The Price of Arrogance

Saier stood amid a sea of flames, her spirit body scorched by unbearable pain.

She glanced at the artifact floating beside her, "Shadow's Gaze." The cracks across it were horrifyingly obvious, and not a trace of magical fluctuation remained. It was no different from ordinary scrap metal.

All hope of luck vanished from her heart. She turned and plunged into the unconscious Undead body, taking control of its injured form and quickly leaving the sea of fire.

The moment she left, the flames behind her rapidly died out as well, leaving only countless ashes floating silently through the gray Ethereal Plane.

Not far away, Emmanuel crept closer furtively and exclaimed in delight, "He's dead? Anser Horleywen is dead!"

Saier shot him a cold sidelong glance, her eyes filled with barely concealed disgust. "He is Bahamut's chosen. How could he die so easily?"

"Then—" Emmanuel immediately saw that the situation was unfavorable, but he did not dare suggest retreating.

"The power of that spell just now was extremely abnormal. He was risking his life—"

As Saier spoke, she saw sparks of starlight flare up amid the ashes filling the sky. They danced through the air, transforming into streams of fire that converged at the center and condensed into a humanoid form in an instant.

When the light faded, "Anser" appeared before them, completely unharmed.

Anser checked the Simulacrum's condition. His Spellcasting ability remained intact, his mind was clear, and his consciousness was undamaged.

The Simulacrum had no soul. Faced with that terrifying assault of will, it had chosen to activate "Rebirth Through Fire" to evade the Saving Throws, but the attempt had failed.

The assault of will had precisely locked onto the Simulacrum's mechanical mind. In the end, it had still endured everything head-on, though fortunately, it had succeeded on its