Mage Manual-Chapter 1331 - 973: Love Letter

Pa!

Alongside the Ruby Sword sheathing with a dragon’s cry, the blood lake sword light that hung upside down above the woodland venue also returned to its sheath. Only when the sword light completely flowed back did the tens of thousands of tense spectators inside the venue relax, many discovering they were drenched in cold sweat, mages included.

The entire audience was silent; no one dared to cheer or voice opinions, everyone was just thankful for their survival. Perhaps in the future, this experience might be something they boast about for decades, but at this moment, they all wished they had never witnessed a Legendary Mage’s war.

They knew Legendary Mages were powerful, but if the Legendary Mage was the young and spirited mage Sonia Sevi, they found it hard not to think she was on the weaker side of Legendary Mages. They knew Holy Domain Mages were strong, especially with Team Captain Alexis and six other church Holy Domain mages present. Even if Holy Domain Mages were not a match for a Legendary Mage, seven Holy Domain Mages should at least rival a young legendary one, right?

On one side was a beautiful young Sword Master who had been a mage for less than a year, and on the other, seven established Holy Domain Mages. Most people believed it would be a spectacular magic duel.

Then Sonia used her sword light to demonstrate to everyone the vast gap between Legendary and Holy Domain Mages, a gap not bridged by numbers.

Indeed, Alexis and her seven Holy Domain counterparts couldn’t be swiftly defeated, but time was not on their side; it belonged only to those dominating the battlefield. When they realized Sonia’s blood lake sword light wouldn’t dissipate but hovered over the arena altering the magical environment, Sonia had already ruled the battlefield.

Although Sonia hadn’t engaged in a truly Legendary duel, not even ventured through Ruby Mountain, that didn’t stop her from transforming her combat style. She was adept at learning, and Diya’s Divine Gospel spirit was probably the best custom mentor in the mortal world.

The decisive difference between Legendary and Holy Domain Mages lies in the ability of a Legendary Mage to alter the battlefield environment. Beyond the obvious changes like Fire Mages creating fires or Water Mages generating floods, there’s a deeper transformation—when heterochromatic magic power drives a miracle, it can subtly paint the environment’s color.

All environments possess magical colors, even nothingness has ’temporal color’ and ’spatial color’.

A good casting environment enhances magic; a poor one, where environmental and miracle colors clash, weakens the miracle power. But physical arts like swordsmanship generally exist in neutral casting environments, with neither enhancement nor detriment.

The strength of Legendary Mages comes not just from altering the environment’s color in a short time but from enabling the environment to cast magic automatically, mirroring their hearts to the heavenly heart!

It sounds difficult but the principle is simple: for instance, a Fire Mage creates an uncontrolled blaze, when it’s beyond natural suppression, the fire continues burning without the mage’s casting, that’s the environment casting magic for the mage.

Facing a Legendary Mage, if you can’t defeat them swiftly, you must face a natural disaster instead!

The entire battlefield becomes an accomplice and claw of the Legendary Mage!

From the beginning, it wasn’t Sonia who needed to hurry, but the seven Holy Domain Mages of the Star Cluster!

Only when Alexis and the others realized this, Sonia’s blood lake battlefield had fully formed. Notably, they didn’t realize Sonia could master battlefield miracles; they never thought Sonia mastered battlefield miracles.

Though a Legendary Mage’s talent should enable mastering battlefield miracles, Sonia had been a mage for less than a year! If Sonia could condense a fourth Void Wing, it might be miraculous, but when would she have time to study battlefield miracles?

Yet Sonia had long encountered battlefield miracles, even as a Two-winged Mage, she’d explored an excellent nascent battlefield miracle. With research by her and Ash, this battlefield miracle was refined and fully developed in her hands.

The original version of this miracle was called Heart Pen.

After Ash gave Sonia his Heart Sword Technique Spirit, the Claw Sword Saint integrated the Heart Sword into her battle system. Coincidentally, Diya explained the Legendary Mage’s battle mode to her, while Extinction Grant Dragon taught her to harness emotional power, allowing Sonia to conceive her exclusive battlefield miracle, the Love Letter.

Love Letters aren’t about high or low, noble or cheap, but about true emotion and false intent.

Depending on Sonia’s miracle-infused Love Letter, the battlefield’s ultimate effect varies. The Shattered Lake Love Letter, scripted from the Blood Moon Shattered Lake, inflicts ongoing sword damage on all hostile targets; the Water Moon Love Letter, centered on defense and counter, triggers automatic counterattacks against all within Sonia’s range.

Though there’s much to improve in "Love Letter," it suffices against Holy Domain Mages.

Sonia observed Alexis, the Team Captain of Star Cluster, embedded in the wall, her Holy Domain not yet drained, but surrounded by blood lake sword light. Alexis could either stay put or be worn down by the sword light.

The Claw Sword Saint turned and flew back to the stage, where Diya clapped her hands and said, "A grand success on your first use. Your Love Letter is already nearly on par with Ash’s Heart Pen."

"Stronger," Sonia calmly replied, "When he returns, I’ll defeat him with his best miracle."

"Eh? Why?"

Sonia glanced at the Witch: "Isn’t just making Ash bow his head reason enough?"

Diya thought about that image: Ash looked on in shock as his Heart Pen battlefield was crushed by the Love Letter battlefield, then he knelt in despair, clutching the legs of the Sword Maiden, crying, "Sword Maiden, you’re so strong, even my greatest Miracle can’t match you. I dare not defy your will ever again; I won’t dare to seek out the Witch anymore..."

No, I must find a way to give Ash a beating. Even if I can’t crush his pride using his best Miracle, at least I need to make him submit to Her Majesty the Empress.

Sonia asked: "Felix..."

"Ash and the others haven’t woken up yet," Diya shook her head and pointed upward: "And the Starry Sky Curtain hasn’t shattered yet, either."

Though it has endured countless impacts and indeed has a large hole, the Starry Sky Curtain still stands firm on the dome. The night is seeping into the day, trying to mend the gap in the sky.

"Don’t rush," Dedarose said leisurely. "Although the Miracle Techniques stored by mages across the country have been exhausted, the wounds on the curtain have exceeded its capacity for automatic repair. We can directly construct Miracle Techniques to attack the curtain. Mages from other places will do the same. It’s only a matter of time before the curtain shatters."

"No time to waste," Sonia said. "The anomaly just now was probably Ash impacting the Star Cluster Curtain. Heaven knows if the Master of Stars has any more tricks up his sleeve. We need to hurry and shatter the Star Cluster Curtain."

Dedarose nodded, opened the microphone, and said to the audience: "Sorry, the Starry Beauty concert is being terminated due to force majeure. Please remain calm and follow the exit instructions to avoid a stampede."

"Lastly, congratulations on witnessing the end of a great era."

The audience stared blankly at the three beauties on stage bowing to them. Just as the concert ended perfectly in another way, a beam of starlight suddenly fell into the venue.

"It’s not over yet."

Sonia turned around and saw Elisis tearing through her Blood Lake Sword Light, while the other Holy Domain members of the Church one by one regained combat power. Elisis was covered in a suit of azure blue flame armor, while the Church’s Holy Domain members were clad in deep blue robes. The Sword Witch recognized at a glance the origins of their attire—

Star Hall level five unit: Prayer of the Stars!

Star Hall level six unit: Star Warrior!

"Order of the Stars: Hereby appoint all the nobles of the Star to be Star Hall Warriors, assist the Church in repairing the curtain, and resist the rebellion to prevent destruction," Elisis pronounced word by word. "The Master of Stars is watching over His loyal land. Rebels like you won’t be favored by Fate."

"The Star Cluster is guiding our path!"

Dedarose glanced at her and sighed softly: "Do you still not understand? Our Four Pillars God Sect merely stirred the winds of the era of change. The true power wanting to shatter the curtain comes from you, the Star Mages themselves."

"The Master of Stars has watched over this land for 1668 years," the First Beauty under the Starry Sky pointed to the Star Warrior captain and said, "But royal power doesn’t last forever. The people’s hearts desire change; everyone is tired of this starry sky; the chains of thought have become tiresome to all."

Is the star nobility system good? Of course, it is. It fully implements "the greater the power, the greater the responsibility" and "wholeheartedly for the public", providing welfare to mages while also restraining their behavior. If mages want more benefits, they must contribute more to society.

During the developmental period of nascent civilization, mages wouldn’t resist this system. But after more than a thousand years, the nation’s resources have been mostly tapped, and class stratification has reached its limit. The lower classes have entirely resigned to laziness, the middle classes are thirsty for reshuffling, and even the upper classes wish to shed their shackles. Everyone is waiting for a beam of dawn’s light.

Ideal aristocracy has become a relic of the past. Its efficiency is still world-leading, but the problem is, it hasn’t satisfied the growing spiritual needs of mages.

The spread of the Four Pillars God in the Kingdom of Stars wasn’t because Dedarose was particularly capable, but because the mages, these white-eyed wolves fed full by the Master of Stars, have been hungry for too long.

Governance involves many aspects, but the management of mages is undoubtedly the most critical topic. The Four Pillars God acts like examiners, repeatedly evaluating the answers of various Divine Lords. Some, like the Extreme Master of Blood Moon, have stable but not high scores, while others, like Lord Senluo, scored very high initially but left midway.

Now, it’s time for the Master of Stars to submit the answers.

"I know," Elisis said coldly. "But when the Master of Stars achieves a higher realm, He will surely continue the brilliance of the Stars! Then all societal problems will be resolved, and the age of stars will never end!"

"Your belief that a great existence can solve all problems fits very well with our Four Pillars God Sect..." Dedarose unfurled her Void Wings. "Sword Seat, Magic Seat, let me handle these remnants of the old era."

"Before the Church repairs the curtain, no one is leaving." Elisis stood resolutely behind the Sword Witch and blocked them: "The Star Mages will uphold this starry sky!"