Li Wen floated amid the tangled chaos of energy. The heightened senses granted by her Witch State had been pushed to their limit. She kept as far from the ground as possible, her eyes reflecting the enormous Ritual Array that covered the entire Sunken City. Every circulation of every rune, every gathering thread of energy, was laid bare before her.
"Ritual of the Scales of Life and Death..." Such a distinctive, large-scale Ritual Array was hardly common, so Li Wen recognized it at once.
A trace of surprise appeared on Poe D'Lien's wrinkled old face. Joseph's body, occupied by Kourt, also stopped moving, his ash-gray eyes truly focusing on the petite figure hovering in midair for the first time.
"Oh?" Poe D'Lien's voice remained dry and hoarse, but it held less of its previous affectation and more of a true Archmage's curiosity. "It seems our little guest knows a little more than we expected."
"Witch of Twilight." Kourt narrowed his eyes. "No wonder there is no place for you on the scales."
Then, he guided Joseph's body down onto a scarlet array node. His Remnant Soul left that ruined body, and suddenly surging ash-gray flames radiated bone-piercing chill, enough to freeze even the chaotic, entwined aetheric energy in the air. The flames formed an incomplete phantom that stared coldly at Li Wen.
Li Wen ignored his probing. Her thoughts raced.
As one of the most ancient rituals recorded in the ritual books, the origins of the Ritual of the Scales of Life and Death had long become impossible to trace. Its core was not simple sacrifice, summoning, or ascension, but an attempt to use extreme opposition and balance as a fulcrum to pry at the foundations of the world's laws.
It was an act of utter madness. Ancient saints had