Dawn and Dusk

Diomedes gave Karl no time to adjust.

The moment Karl froze, time around him suddenly began to slow down.

The light receded once more, and everything dimmed. The flames that had been engulfing everything around them gradually slowed down and almost solidified.

In the instant that the flow of time around him slowed down, a bright golden light simultaneously shone in Oswald's eyes.

Like the dawn, it glows with a very faint crimson light in its white-gold color.

—Higher Advanced Divine Arts: Acceleration of the Hourglass! The power from the Hourglass descends upon me without prayer.

In Diomedes's domain, his speed was not slowed down, but rather increased.

Oswald appeared in front of the Balrog in an instant and stopped abruptly.

His fingertips were entwined with Lines of Light very similar to Diomedes'. Only their colors differed slightly— Oswald's were white, while Diomedes ' were closer to a dim yellow. Like the light emitted by two light bulbs with different color temperatures.

He shone with brilliance once again.

—Advanced Divine Arts: Gray Silk!

The threads, strengthened by Gray Angel's power, transformed into sharp blades.

Oswald suddenly raised his right hand, and a sharp Lines of Light tore General Karl's body apart! It was like a glass-like blade, or the claws of a ferocious beast.

The offensive spread out and even cut through the wall behind General Karl!

Karl was severely injured the moment they met.

But no blood splattered from his body. Instead, accompanied by a dazzling, incandescent light, numerous golden-red sparks, like those from welding, shot outwards—

General Karl showed no sign of panic. He merely grunted, his pupils blazing with fury, the flames binding his torn body back together, leaving only a deeper scar.

Shafiya remained silent, shaking the staff in her hand.

The silver triangle radiated an iridescent glow. Accompanied by the clanging of metal, countless silver chains emerged from the void, binding General Karl's entire body! Karl had just raised his right hand slightly when he was trapped in place, unable to move. But he showed no panic.

He stood motionless, but the scars on his front of his body transformed into malevolent eyes.

— Ritual spell, Eye of Malice!

If you look directly at it, you will be overwhelmed by its intense malice and frozen in place, unable to move.

The next moment, intense flames erupted!

Like a volcanic eruption, golden-red magma, accompanied by cursed purplish-red flames, automatically retaliated in the direction Oswald had attacked earlier!

The automatically counter-attacking lava cannon instantly blasted a hole in the Silver and Tin Palace, which was reinforced by the preservation spell! The wall couldn't even hold on for a moment before being shattered by the flames of the automatically counter-attacking attack.

Additional, scattered flames fell outside—a few sparks landing on the grass ignited into a purplish-red, poisonous fire. These flames, like thorns or writhing, living snakes, spread rapidly, billowing black smoke.

More flames fell into the lake, which was churning with muddy, yellowish-brown water. Instantly, billowing, acrid, pale yellow steam rose up, accompanied by a hissing sound.

This is completely different from the power of the flames that Karl actively uses.

The flames he summoned were drawn from the Fiery Demon's body and controlled by reason.

—But when he was attacked and bled, it was the unrestrained fire of the Fiery Demon, ignited by the "Wrath" mark!

With his extensive experience in building abilities, Iver immediately deduced that General Karl was likely the type who was exceptionally skilled at automatic counterattacks.

Unlike the "Succubus" Emma, Karl didn't have much faith in the demon within him. The demon within him was heavily sealed and suppressed, with only a small amount of power that he could withstand and control being released.

When certain conditions are met, it can unleash its full power under controlled conditions.

Clearly, the condition Karl set was "being injured and bleeding".

He and the Balrog are not the same entity, therefore the Balrog within him can continuously heal him. Relying on the powerful life force granted by the contracted Balrog... perhaps there are other Path Trait to enhance his survival.

That's why he has the confidence to remain silent.

Because he is the type of fighter who relies on "passive abilities," and the only condition to trigger the passive effect is being hit!

However, his powerful counter-attack missed its mark.

Because he had just been attacked and released from his stun state, he was once again slowed down by Diomedes.

Oswald was moving so fast that his eyes couldn't keep up.

The moment that Eye of Malice opened, Oswald had already appeared behind General Karl.

He didn't even glance at Karl; in fact, he had his back to him.

But before anyone knew it, General Karl was tightly bound by five white threads. The ends of the threads were wrapped around Oswald's clenched hand.

A red glow rekindled in Oswald's eyes.

—Higher Advanced Divine Arts: Dawnfire! The instant the counter-attack cannon fired, Holy Fire from the Dawn Angel ignited within Oswald's body, forming an invisible barrier of fire around him. The Holy Fire then spread from his palms, instantly igniting General Karl.

The Holy Fire enveloped him, sizzling and searing his body—

For General Karl, who possesses a high level of Flame Affinity, this was not a fatal blow.

At that moment, Oswald suddenly turned around.

Within a second, all three Advanced Divine Arts took effect.

He raised his hand, and three points of light appeared: bright yellow, gray, and golden red. They connected to form a triangle, and then coalesced into a white light curtain in the center.

His outstretched right index finger touched the newly formed light screen.

As if being launched into the air, the Triangle of Light expanded instantly and flew forward, passing right through General Karl, who had been slowed down again and was burning with almost static flames.

The moment the triangle of light pierced through General Karl, the flames on his body suddenly intensified. An invisible storm swept in, extinguishing all the fire demon flames.

From the burning body of Karl, seemingly endless white light burst forth, instantly piercing the dark domain summoned by Diomedes.

The slowed-down speed around us returned to normal in an instant.

But the next moment, the whole world turned into nothingness, leaving only a pure and clean white realm.

Oswald's unusually rapid speed suddenly returned to normal.

All the buffs each person bestowed upon themselves and all the debuffs they inflicted on their enemies vanished and returned to zero within this pure white domain. All these unbalanced forces were transformed into pure, balanced power, concentrated in the next strike.

Oswald delivered a simple, unadorned hand chop.

The hand blade, capable of easily tearing through steel and rock, did not actually touch Karl's body. Nor did Lines of Light emerge from his fingertips—perhaps not. After all, in this pure white world, the existence of "threads" was simply invisible.

Even so, the pure white world was thus perfectly divided in two.

When the pure white area was cut open, General Karl, who was in the very center, had no power to resist and was directly split in two!

—This was the powerful blow that Oswald was destined to strike after locking onto him! And that cold, balanced power directly destroyed the seal within his body, making his body impossible to heal.

This made General Karl look like a soft-boiled egg yolk that had been cut open... After the surrounding "egg white" was cut open, his whole body burst out with clumps of gelatinous flames, and the "scars" on his body twisted and spread. His whole body gradually broke apart and collapsed, almost melting into a pool of flowing golden lava.

These two old men, individually, might not even be able to defeat "Bone Carver," a Fifth Level being on the verge of death. But if the two of them joined forces, even an elite like Karl would find it almost impossible to withstand them.

It should be noted that after Shafiya was silenced, she could not use any powerful Law Spell other than "spell counter" and "forceful restraint".

The binding and immobilization were of little use to General Karl, who was mainly focused on counterattacks. It was basically as if only these two guardian elves were attacking Karl in unison.

It wasn't just General Karl was cut open; even the red barrier in the sky was shattered.

But at that moment, an even stronger sense of crisis arose in the hearts of everyone present.

"Run!"

Shafiya was the first to react.

Having regained her spellcasting ability, she didn't hesitate to tap her staff against the wall. Her free hand reached out into the void ahead.

It's like we've finally found a point.

The next moment, a blue and white runic light gate was generated.

"Run, Iver!"

She maintained the portal, urging it on loudly.

Oswald had just unleashed a full-force attack, and was still reeling from the overload of the Balance Force. Iver shoved Diomedes, signaling him to quickly take the stunned Oswald and escape.

Iver picked up Sherlock, who was still unconscious, and jumped into the portal.

Shafiya was last in line and had already seen General Karl's remains begin to twist and burn.

A surging, intense rage was building up amidst the howling heat.

Without further hesitation, she deactivated the teleportation array. In the instant before the portal distorted and disappeared, she flew forward at full speed and crashed into it.

Then, flames erupted.

From the embers, the Balrog rose upright—