So-called [Resolve]—the effect of this [Saint’s Envoy] spell was to temporarily seal all healing-type magic within [Saint’s Envoy], greatly boosting the power of all other [Saint’s Envoy] magic aside from healing magic—in other words, what people commonly called “Holy Knight” mode.

Although once someone reached high-tier Magus, as long as their [Spirit Soul] was [Saint’s Envoy] they could learn this spell—and it also came with severe side effects—most Radiant Cross Knights would still use it before a fight to the death. It meant smashing the cooking pot and sinking the boats—showing the determination to decide life and death with the enemy, just like the name of the spell.

This spell seemed to be something Luna had been forced to cast before when fighting some powerful enemy. And once it was cast, it couldn’t be canceled by the user. Until the spell ended, she couldn’t cast any healing-type magic.

Enchanted weapons, family-inherited magic, and [Resolve] in a do-or-die stand—Luna had already used every method to raise her magic’s power. Yet compared to Master-realm power, she was still a full tier short—and that was even with Luna’s light-element affinity far higher than Foreno’s.

Right now, Luna’s state could not be called anything but miserable. Her uniform had been blasted to shreds. Her sheer white stockings had been blasted so one was long and one was short, the roots completely torn. Her pale honey-colored hair was in disarray. Her snow-white pleated skirt was riddled with holes. Her uniform hung in tatters. She supported herself with one hand on her dimming platinum staff, while the other hand gathered light magic—her condition looked extremely bad.

Not only that—near her feet lay several broken fragments of accessories like pendants and rings, along with a torn piece of parchment, and a bottle that had rolled on the ground, giving off a blinding glow: a light-element absorption potion.

“Lady Luna!” Everyone stared tensely at the scene.

So it still isn’t enough?

Vanessa lightly bit her lip.

“Oh my. Cultivators shouldn’t bring up money, but—being wealthy is never a bad thing. Sometimes it can even buy you an extra life.” Looking at the shattered fragments of various paid items and potion scrolls scattered around Luna, Foreno said with a warm chuckle.

“I’m truly sorry, Lady Luna. By rights, as a grand archbishop under a church, what I’m doing is overstepping. But if you still refuse to submit, then I can only kill you on the charge of betraying the Church.” Luna’s earlier counterattacks were her answer. Foreno knew there was no need to say more. He had no intention of stopping his assault.

To make sure there were no more complications, Foreno waited a moment. When the cooldown ended, he raised his staff. Countless particles of light gathered at the staff tip. In an instant, another round of [Demon-Felling Meteor Lightburst].

“Lady Luna!” Watching this, the three of them had no time to breathe. A new [Demon-Felling Meteor Lightburst] crashed down toward Luna like a blazing solar corona that made you unable to lift your head.

This was to ensure, completely, that the other side could no longer be an obstacle.

Yet when Vanessa’s gaze fell on Luna, she discovered that although Luna looked disheveled and miserably battered, her eyes were still calm and untroubled, terrifyingly steady—just like always, as if everything were still within her control.

And it was also at the moment Foreno released [Demon-Felling Meteor Lightburst] at Luna that the [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals], which had been floating in the air with almost no movement, suddenly moved. The recorded entry line representing [Demon-Felling Meteor Lightburst] lit up—and then the several chains that had previously sealed the [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals] abruptly appeared, binding the [Demon-Felling Meteor Lightburst] that was about to leave his hand.

Foreno felt as if the spell had stuck to his hand. At the moment it should have left his grasp, it didn’t—it clung to him, impossible to shake off.

The sudden change made Foreno’s heart jolt. Seeing the spell about to explode, Foreno knew exactly what would happen if he got caught in a Master-grade blast. He could only hurriedly dispel the spell to prevent it from exploding with him attached to it.

He wasn’t the Haukekai Family’s eldest daughter. He didn’t have so many fallback items on him.

What the hell is this?!

Could it be that the [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals] had additional effects??

Foreno stared at the line of tiny golden text on the [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals] as it gradually faded. But the reality was: he didn’t have time to think. Several [Light-Cone Strike] attacks were already flying straight at him, and he had to respond.

[Light-Cone Strike] randomly produced two to five light cones. Its overall destructive power wasn’t high, but its single-point destruction was strong—and its speed was extremely fast.

Seeing he couldn’t dodge, Foreno instinctively released [Light Protection] for defense. It was his habit. After stepping into the Master realm, even though his realm had stayed at early Master for a long time, at that realm there were basically no opponents—so he developed the habit of relying on magic first no matter what enemy he faced.

That habit was usually fine.

But this time was different.

The [Light Protection] that should have formed with a simple lift of his hand did not appear as he wished.

By rights, [Light-Cone Strike] cast by a high-tier Magus shouldn’t pose any threat to him at all. In the past, he wouldn’t even have bothered to raise his eyes.

But when you can’t cast magic, it’s different.

When you can’t cast magic, killing a human only takes a small fireball.

Foreno’s eyes widened. He never expected that a Master like him would capsize in front of a mere high-tier Magus.

By the time dark red blood stained his white priest’s robe, he still hadn’t understood why his magic had failed—why he suddenly couldn’t cast magic at all. It was a situation he had never imagined, and one that had never happened to him.

[Light-Cone Strike] easily pierced fragile flesh. Foreno had never thought that one day he would die to such a pathetic spell.

He fell backward, still holding the posture of raising a hand to cast. From the blood-red corner of his eye, he glimpsed those chains at the edge—forming a sealing formation that had locked him down.

The situation flipped in an instant. Everything happened too suddenly. Fennia and Amisha couldn’t even react in time—how had Foreno lost? Why hadn’t he cast magic to counter, or used a guardian spell to defend, once he saw magic coming at him?

Vanessa understood. She looked to the spellbook floating above Luna’s head—on it, the line written in ancient sacred script, [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals], had vanished.

So that’s how it is.

The [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals]’s effect wasn’t as simple as copying magic. After recording a spell, it could choose to copy the spell—or, when the other party cast that same spell again, it could seal the other party’s magic. The sealed person would temporarily be unable to cast any magic.

Looking at the book-chains that had locked Foreno down, Vanessa guessed.

He’d been hit by an information gap. Foreno didn’t clearly understand the [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals]’s effects. He believed he already knew everything it did—when in reality, he only knew part of it.

And with his Master-realm strength completely crushing a high-tier Magus, he’d grown somewhat careless.

You could only say Luna’s little tools were still too many—she had stacked her margin for error too high.

But this time was truly dangerous.

If Foreno hadn’t kept using [Demon-Felling Meteor Lightburst] just now—and had switched to some other spell that the [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals] hadn’t recorded—the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Maybe... Luna would already be finished.

She had been gambling. Gambling that Foreno only knew this one Master-realm destructive spell. If so, with the [Book of Sacred Bestowal Seals] in play, Foreno would most likely—seeking stability—use the same move a second time.

In the end, Luna gambled right. With high-tier Magus realm, she narrowly defeated an early Master.

Looking at Luna’s current state, Vanessa couldn’t help thinking—

This was a true narrow victory. If Foreno hadn’t chosen to keep using the same spell just now, she would have lost for sure.

This was practically a miracle. Crossing a major realm to defeat an enemy was a case among cases—something that almost belonged in a textbook.

But thinking ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) about it, it still felt reasonable. As the Haukekai Family’s eldest daughter, Luna had outstanding talent, high light-element affinity, family magic others didn’t have, and an endless stream of paid weapons and tools that raised her margin for error—plus the boost from [Resolve].

Only under those conditions did she barely win.

The probability of an event like this was absurdly low.

But no matter how low the probability was—it still happened.

Foreno lay on the ground, still holding the posture of raising a hand to cast. He stared blankly, eyes round, as if he still hadn’t realized he had lost.

Only at the edge of death did he remember: his [Spirit Soul] was [Saint’s Envoy], and his mana was still quite abundant.

There was still a chance. Everything still had a chance. Yet just as he was about to cast a healing spell on himself, a golden cube descended above his head and blew his skull apart.

[Light Crystal]

Luna forced out her last breath, releasing her final spell—finishing off Foreno, who hadn’t completely died yet.

It was a cruel scene, but at a time like this, if you weren’t ruthless, the unlucky ones would be them.

Amisha and Fennia’s faces both looked a bit unwell. Clearly, for them, a scene where white and red splattered everywhere was too shocking. They immediately averted their eyes. Amisha couldn’t quite hold it in—she squatted down, sick and retching.

Is it over?

Vanessa silently watched the scene return to silence, watching Foreno lying there unmoving, still looking like he didn’t understand, his robe soaked with liquids of various colors that interwove and flowed across the ground.

Was their crisis... resolved?

Luna seemed to have reached her limit too. Bracing on her staff, she sank to her knees.

“Tap, tap.” Fennia was about to go over and check on Luna—when, at that moment, something fell from Foreno’s body.

The four of them were drawn by the sound. They looked over and found a cube giving off a dim luster.

No—this is...?!

Of course they all remembered this cube. All of them had been sent here by this cube.

Thinking about it now, Vanessa understood why it was shaped like a cube. Because every scene they experienced had no connection to the last—like the cube kept turning. Wherever it turned to, they went there. Every scene was randomly stitched together by the cube, completely mismatched front to back.

This cube had been on Foreno’s body.

So it really was him. Everything was Foreno’s doing.

“Click click!” With a series of sounds, the cube spun rapidly right in front of their eyes. In the end, just as it spun so fast it made your eyes tired, the cube made a “crack” sound—twisted apart. A savage fissure split down its middle, and it shattered completely.

Staring at the cube broken all over the ground, the four of them were at a loss. They looked at one another, not understanding what would happen next.

“Boom boom boom!!!” The very next second gave them all the answer.

The cube had shattered—and the ground under their feet shattered too. Like the dim cube fragments, it split with savage cracks, forming a huge spiderweb.

“Get out of here!” Vanessa shouted.

But with the current condition of the four of them—

It was beyond terrible. If they brought her along, none of them would make it out.

“Fennia, can you still stand?”

“Barely... yes, Lady Saintess.” Fennia ignored the injuries on her body and clenched her teeth. She had reached her limit too. Being able to stand was purely willpower and adrenaline forcing her upright.

“Fennia, Amisha—go save Lady Luna! Then hurry and leave this place!” Vanessa shouted to Fennia.

“This... no! Lady Saintess—what about you? I won’t leave you behind!” Fennia was in so much pain that cold sweat streamed down, but her tone remained firm.

“I naturally have my own way. You hurry and leave this place.” Vanessa said with resolve.

“Then what is your way?? We won’t leave you behind!”

“Don’t worry about me. Go save Lady Luna! Then you take Amisha and go—leave this place!” Vanessa shouted. “If you keep stalling, none of us will get out!”

“No! Lady Saintess—we won’t leave you! We’ll save Lady Luna too!”

“If you do this, none of us will be able to leave. We’ll all be stuck here.” Vanessa pressed her lips together, a flash of determination passing through her eyes. “Haven’t you been calling me Lady Saintess this whole time?”

“Then will you listen to Lady Saintess?”

“This is an order, Attendant Fennia. I order you—don’t mind me. Take Luna and Amisha and leave this place!”

“Amisha, listen well. This is an order. Go save Lady Luna, then leave this place!” Vanessa’s voice had never been this severe.

“I...” Fennia opened her mouth, not knowing how to respond.

Amisha was also torn, clutching her skirt hem, at a loss.

“There won’t be time. Move, now.” Vanessa’s brows knit tight.

“But—”

Before Fennia could continue, the roar of breaking sounded, deafening. Under their eyes, the sky began to disperse—to collapse.

“Either way, let’s get to Luna first.”

Fennia supported the exhausted Vanessa. Together with Amisha, the three of them struggled over to Luna’s side, where she had run out of strength.

All three of them were badly wounded. Between them, there wasn’t a single person whose condition wasn’t awful.

Vanessa lifted her eyes, staring at the sky cracking into fragments as pieces continuously fell, and pressed her lips together.

She gave up on ordering Fennia to leave—because under a scene this overwhelming, she didn’t even know where they were supposed to run.

For her to have made it this far... you could say it was inevitability formed by countless coincidences.

So what about next??

Next—would there still be “coincidence”??

Had her bloodline awakening and her fate’s turning point really been the will of the Dawn Goddess—or the prior Dawn Saintesses??