Pursuit

A little less than half an hourglass later.

Suppressed by Solam and Bibilionna together, the Son of the Sun, who had been at a disadvantage the whole time, let out a shrill howl. Suddenly, blinding, dazzling waves of light and scorching heat erupted from her, drowning Solam and Bibilionna's figures completely in an instant.

The light waves made Green, whose magic power had mostly recovered, unable to look straight at them. He could not help turning his head and closing his eyes.

"Haha, the crazy bitch really used this move again! Green, recover your magic here first. If that crazy bitch tries to run later, you chase with us. This time we're definitely going to leave her with a lesson she'll never forget!"

Yun Li carried a strange excitement, giving his weak and pale-looking face a grotesque ferocity.

Green nodded subconsciously.

From beginning to end, Green had not even understood why he had become the object both sides were fighting over.

On one hand, it was because the Son of the Sun's arrogance, tyranny, and contempt for all others had completely enraged the three from Black Isotta Wizard Academy. On the other, it seemed that his own existence had broken some hidden rule?

With a hehe of cold laughter, as space twisted, Yun Li's figure abruptly vanished from Green's side and joined the battle group in the air as well.

Within that domineering, arrogant, grand wave of fiery heat, waves of energy continuously spread outward. Not only was Green shaken beyond measure, his heart pounding with fear, even the last few wizard apprentices peering over from far away, who had not given up on fighting for the secret realm, could not help trembling all over, completely snuffing out some of their lucky thoughts.

A moment later, the dazzling radiance in the sky that no one could look straight at finally dispersed.

After a low, muffled groan, the Son of the Sun's body slid into the distance like a meteor, while she howled, "Black Isotta Wizard Academy! I'll remember this!"

Her voice carried hatred that sank deep into the marrow, seeming to swear that there would be no rest until death.

At Yun Li's signal, Green on the ground waved the Blood Bat's Kiss magic staff in his hand, then rode the wind-element bat into the sky. Along with Solam, Yun Li, and Bibilionna, he turned into one of four streams of flowing light with different lusters, showing not the slightest mercy as they continued chasing after the Son of the Sun fleeing into the distance.

Bibilionna's seemingly pure face was thrown wide in loud laughter.

"Sister Mina, we of Black Isotta Wizard Academy are afraid your memory won't be deep enough, so this time we're not only going to defeat you and take the reward that belongs to you, we're going to hunt you through the secret realm until the very last day, leaving you with a beautiful memory carved into your bones, sunk into your marrow, and never forgotten for all eternity. Let's see if you still dare call yourself number one, look down on everyone, and point your fingers at our Black Isotta Wizard Academy."

The Son of the Sun ahead made no sound, only flying with her head down.

However, though she made no sound, the hatred she radiated, enough to chill one's heart, was released without the slightest attempt to hide it.

On the way, she even occasionally saw one or two innocent wizard apprentices from Black Isotta Academy, and did not hesitate to pause for a moment, paying the price of suffering some injuries to kill them without mercy.

In the sky, the Son of the Sun's vast and terrifying mark fluctuations spread a full three or four hundred meters outward. Such a grand commotion had nearly become the focus of everyone's gaze.

Yet what was even more shocking was that at this moment, this Son of the Sun, who possessed a mark of a full hundred people, was actually being hunted by four Despairers. All along the way she did not dare stop in the slightest, fleeing in a panic.

On the wind-element bat, Green's long golden hair rustled and streamed in the wind.

The Heart of Vines earring on his left ear, the Eternal Earring on his right ear, and the Spring of Joy Necklace before his chest drifted with the wind. Beneath the Pale Mask, his eyes looked at the Son of the Sun ahead, who had once been arrogant, tyrannical, and contemptuous of all others, but now could only flee in sorry panic under the pursuit of the four from Black Isotta Academy. An indescribable thrill could not help rising in his heart.

In the sky, looking at the ground sliding rapidly past beneath him, Green suddenly recalled how he had once watched the Son of the Sun hunt Bibilionna, and afterward watched Solam, Yun Li, and Bibilionna join hands to chase the Son of the Sun. Back then, he had been like countless wizard apprentices, looking up at the Despairers in the sky who seemed like sovereigns, his heart filled with shock, fear, and longing.

Yet now, he had actually already become one of them, become an object of reverence for those wizard apprentices below who were hiding in unknown places. An excitement impossible to put into words spread through him.

Never at any moment had Green possessed such a thirst to obtain greater power.

Once, Green had been forced to arm and strengthen himself because he feared the cruel system of Black Isotta Wizard Academy.

But at this very moment, Green himself actively thirsted to obtain even more powerful strength, to dominate everything he could control.

On the distant ground, at a temporary camp.

One of Lafi's eyes transformed into a vertical eagle pupil as she looked at the five Despairers who flashed past and flew away in the distant sky, then sighed.

However, when Lafi inadvertently saw the figure riding atop the wind-element bat, her body abruptly shook!

Only after the five Despairers had completely vanished did Yorkris and the others gather around, asking with faces full of excitement, "Big Sister Lafi, what exactly happened over there? Hurry and tell us..."

"It was four... Despairers chasing the Son of the Sun."

Lafi's expression looked somewhat unpleasant. She did not say Green's name, and turned to leave.

Yorkris and the others only thought that Lafi had seen the gap between herself and the Despairers and was in a low mood. They did not pay too much attention, instead beginning to excitedly guess what change had happened in the secret realm.

One day later.

A vast mark fluctuation appeared in the sky overhead. Amland and Belle looked up in horror, but as a wave of scorching light and flame descended, Amland roared in fright, "Careful!"

With the roar, several mysterious golden patterns surfaced on Amland's body. With a twang, the longsword in his hand instantly drove its exploding thunder power to the limit, transforming it into a vast sheet of bursting sparks.

His former composure had vanished without a trace. All that remained was ferocity filling his eyes, veins bulging on his head, as Amland exhausted all his strength and slashed at the mass of scorching light and flame descending from the sky.

"Amland!"

After Belle cried out in alarm, she urgently chanted an incantation. Her face paled, and after the ground beneath her feet trembled, a giant turtle appeared.

This giant earth-element turtle was a full five meters in size. The heavy shell on its back was instantly reinforced by magic power into hard granite, flickering with a cold, solid, indestructible luster.

Boom!

With a violent explosion, Amland and Belle cut sorry figures as they hid beneath the earth-element giant turtle.

After the elemental giant turtle let out a silent howl, the bursting, scorching flames instantly blasted away huge chunks of granite from its shell. Many parts also softened, and some of the magic power infused within it to make the solid earth element even sturdier was purified and dispersed, causing the granite to transform back into soil.

Seen from a distance, it looked like a giant ugly turtle without its shell, lying prone on the ground and protecting Amland and Belle.

"They actually didn't die!"

The Son of the Sun flying through the air had a cold expression, but she did not dare linger too long and continued fleeing into the distance.

Puff, puff, puff, puff. Four figures flew past in succession.

Four figures radiated powerful mark fluctuations without the slightest restraint. As the four continued chasing the Son of the Sun, they looked over in surprise at the two people beneath the giant turtle, just in time to see Amland and Belle looking somewhat battered.

Because Solam had joined the Blood Sail Alliance, he gave Amland a polite smile.

"Solam, Yun Li, Bibilionna... Green!?"

Amland's eyes went wide, disbelief written across his face.

After all, in the past, although news had burst out that Green's mark value had reached thirty, Amland had believed that Green was at most evenly matched with him, and had only plundered so many mark points because of some accident.

Deep down, Amland had never placed Green in the ranks of the Despairers, but now...

Amland clenched his fists tightly, endless self-mockery on his pale face, as if he were jeering at his own arrogant ignorance.

Belle's pure, beautiful eyes also widened as she murmured, "G-Green?"

As if doubting herself, Belle rubbed her eyes, then confirmed again that the figure riding the wind-element bat and wearing that signature pale mask was indeed Green, whom she had met a few days ago in the second secret realm.

"No wonder... No wonder that venom-tongued queen took a liking to Green. He's actually already reached this level? A hidden genius of the academy's new generation?"

After her astonishment, a glimmer of curiosity appeared deep in Belle's eyes.

The five grand mark fluctuations chased for nearly three full days, almost circling the entire trial field once, before Solam finally waved a hand and stopped the pursuit.

By now, everyone was holding magic stones to replenish their magic power while continuing to fly and give chase.

"Brother Solam, after we chased that crazy woman like this, let's see how she still dares call herself number one in the future. Hmph."

Bibilionna's face was full of undisguised delight and satisfaction, and she once again returned to her innocent, carefree appearance.

Green was holding a test tube in his hand. Inside the test tube was a small vial of fresh red blood, precisely what he had gathered in scattered drops from the injured Son of the Sun during the earlier pursuit.

Green looked utterly curious, constantly shaking the blood in the test tube in his hand, and actually felt that the temperature around him had undergone certain changes.

"What use is collecting that crazy woman's blood?"

Yun Li looked at Green in surprise. Solam and Bibilionna also glanced over with faint curiosity.

Bibilionna tried to guess, "Using physical traces to curse her? But... with her ability, it's almost impossible for a wizard apprentice-level curse to be fatal to her. Even for some special curses, you'd need to set up a large altar and gather more physical traces, plus have a wizard apprentice with outstanding curse talent, for it to be possible."

"Uh, I just want to see why that Son of the Sun has such powerful control over fire-element energy, that's all. I'm trying to crack her secret from her blood. After all, she dissected your talents."

Green explained.

Through the Son of the Sun's words, Green already knew that Bibilionna's golden slit-pupil talent should be a deep application of some rare water-element rune.

And Bibilionna's attack characteristics also matched this explanation. After all, every enemy stared at by the golden slit-pupil lost the water in their body, turning into a dried corpse and dying.

Because of this, Green couldn't help thinking of his two broken branches.

If he also cracked the rare runes within them and fused them into his soul-element magic array, then when the time came, he would at least have reached Bibilionna's level of power, right?

As for Solam's talent, according to the Son of the Sun's explanation, it was symbiosis with some monster. This was something Green found a little hard to understand. Just what sort of monster could grant him such a formidable ability of an undying body?

Perhaps this also had something to do with the fact that Green had never seen Solam "die."