Skylar and Harry's First Battle

The valley in Germany's Black Forest had been completely enveloped by a silver-blue curtain of light.

Eleanor stood at the center of the high ground, her crimson alchemical robe snapping in the night wind.

The twelve alchemists behind her raised their array pillars at the same time. Runes flowed across the ground like water, and at the center of the hexagram formation, the sealing crystal slowly rose into the air. The spell patterns within the crystal emitted a pure white light, like a star on the verge of eruption.

Under Helmut's coordination, the German Aurors were responsible for suppressing and driving back the outer perimeter, Ashen Blade handled the frontal purge and high-risk containment, while the Hohenheim Family deployed several field-stabilizing artifacts passed down from the golden age of alchemy to buy time for the final sealing. As they advanced layer by layer, the restless dark creatures in the Black Forest were gradually forced into the designated area, their range of movement continuously compressed.

Now, the dark creatures had been driven into the deepest part of the valley. Vampires and Hags kept shrieking as they lunged forward, only to be blasted back without mercy by the wizards' Blasting Curses. The Kobolds' magic faded uselessly within the soundproof barrier the alchemists had erected in advance, like singing with their throats sealed shut. Erklings beat their wings and tried to tear open a gap from the air, only to discover that the entire sky had long been firmly covered by an invisible giant net.

At last, a cold curve appeared at the corner of Eleanor's lips.

"Sealing completion... ninety-seven." She counted softly. "Thirty more seconds... and it will all be over."

Just as the crystal's radiance was about to reach its peak—

The air suddenly collapsed.

It was not the brief crack