Aegwynn's Illusion

Modera and Aegwynn's battle had ended, but Tonatiuh's was not yet over.

During that terrifying blaze just now, both Tonatiuh and the Flame Invaders had been engulfed and thoroughly scorched.

If Tonatiuh had not been immune to magic, and if the Flame Invaders had not been high-ranking fire elementals themselves, Modera's long-prepared, immensely powerful wide-area spell might have taken them both out in one blow.

Instead, the Flame Invaders and Tonatiuh emerged completely unscathed, hacking at each other amid the sea of fire while the flames continued to burn around them.

The fire elemental power within this stretch of rock had been completely spent by Modera's spell, and even the rocks had been burned through. Once Modera lost control of the spell, the flames vanished. Rocks across a radius of several hundred meters crumbled into ash and collapsed, and Tonatiuh and his enemies, caught right in the middle, fell into the pit as well.

Caught off guard, the two Flame Invaders tumbled into a mess. Tonatiuh recovered first, barely landed on his feet, and immediately resumed fighting them.

He understood now.

The two Flame Invaders, whose fire power he countered, could do nothing to him besides throw punches. But likewise, he had no idea what their physical bodies were made of. His fine steel greatsword left only pale marks when it struck them and could not truly harm them.

So it had turned into a brawl.

Neither Tonatiuh nor the Flame Invaders could do anything to the other. It was simply a matter of who ran out of stamina first.

Competing endurance with elementals... Even though he knew his current body was incredibly strong and possessed astonishing stamina and endurance, Tonatiuh still had enough self-awareness to know he could not keep dragging this out.

Either run.

He could come back and deal with them after finding a weapon capable of harming their true bodies.

Or else...

Tonatiuh glanced at the two mages in the distance, whose battle had already been decided. Gritting his teeth, he hefted his greatsword and sprinted toward them.

If it was Aegwynn...

Even if they were evenly matched, she could probably wipe out these two elementals with a wave of her hand, right?

Would she help?

She probably would... right?

In any case, magic could not hurt him. If she refused to help, it did not matter. He could always run!

Tonatiuh made up his mind to flee.

The moment he ran,

the two Flame Invaders froze for a moment.

The flesh-and-blood creature who had just fought them so fiercely, leaving them helpless and driving them mad with rage, had suddenly run off without a word.

"Roar!"

With two roars,

flames ignited around them once more as they pursued Tonatiuh.

Over here,

Modera had been defeated.

She had been defeated by the most basic of Magic Missiles. Worse, her half-cast spell had been disrupted, causing a mental backlash that now left her in boundless agony.

Aegwynn stood at her side.

She shook her head.

"In battle, stronger spells are not always better. What matters is using the right spell in the right place, at the right time."

"If used well, even a simple Stone Throw could bring down a blue dragon. Modera, you are very talented, but you are too impetuous."

Modera could no longer speak.

Her expression was twisted in pain, clearly showing that she was suffering immensely. A fall from such a height and the backlash from a powerful spell—neither was easy for a young female mage to endure.

"Ah..."

Aegwynn sighed.

Blue light shone from her slender, pale hand and settled upon Modera's body.

"I hope this makes you feel a little better. Healing is not my specialty."

Guided by Aegwynn's pure, gentle arcane power, the backlash tormenting Modera's body eased somewhat. Though she still could not speak, her expression relaxed a little, and gratitude showed in her eyes.

Seeing her like this,

Aegwynn, already a mother herself, could not help but feel a surge of tenderness. She was still just a child!

Aegwynn actually liked this mage, who was so outstanding at such a young age. She felt that if she had not borne a child, she might have chosen to pass the Guardian's power on to a junior like her.

Just then,

she heard a rumbling sound from afar. Aegwynn looked up and saw a troll charging toward her with two fire elementals in pursuit. Her lovely brows furrowed.

A troll?

None of them were any good!

As she prepared a spell to destroy both the troll and the fire elementals, she comforted Modera.

"Child... rest for a while. Go to sleep. I will not do anything to you. I will send you back to the Kirin Tor. Wait, you..."

Suddenly,

Aegwynn noticed that at some unknown point, the gratitude in Modera's eyes had turned somewhat cold. And perhaps while Aegwynn had looked up at the troll, black mist had begun drifting from her waist into Modera's body. At some unknown point, Modera's hand had also slipped into Aegwynn's belt and grasped that object.

"Child! No!"

Aegwynn cried out. Her spellcasting faltered, but Modera had already drawn a curved black dagger from her waist. At some point, Modera's face had turned savage as she screamed,

"Aegwynn! Traitor of Tirisfal! Die!"

The dagger plunged toward Aegwynn's abdomen.

Whoosh!

Though startled, Aegwynn did not panic. At the critical moment, light flashed around her, and when she reappeared, she was already dozens of meters away. Yet a streak of blood now stained her pristine white mage robes.

The half-reclining Modera, her face twisted in malice, had no one to support her and collapsed weakly to the ground. But Aegwynn's blood dripped from the dagger in her hand.

Aegwynn was injured.

The former Guardian, who had never before been wounded, was filled with uncertainty and alarm. Before she could launch an attack or make a decision, a wisp of faint black smoke suddenly rose from Modera's dagger and flew toward her.

The black smoke looked utterly ordinary, like the exhaust exhaled by the smoking humans had recently taken up. Yet at that single glance, the former Guardian felt as if she had been targeted by an indescribable terror. The panic she had never felt even when facing Sargeras now rose in her heart after her body had been wounded.

In an instant,

an icy wind seemed to brush past Aegwynn's ears, winding through the chaotic, strange piles of stones around her and producing unwilling howls like those of vengeful spirits.

At some unknown point, the blazing Fire Plume Ridge had gained three moons. One was Elune, one was Blue Child, and the other was the moon by the cliff—no, that definitely was not a moon!

Aegwynn saw it hanging alone in the sky, without even a single star around it—that was why she felt it was so lonely. It was deep crimson, like human blood, like the blood flowing from her abdomen, which was now throbbing with agony.

The red moon seized Aegwynn's attention. She did not know how to describe it. It was not very large, but it was shattered into pieces and placed upon a pale altar...

Ah!

It was not a moon.

It was Aegwynn. It was herself. It was her own body!

The altar bearing Aegwynn's corpse was certainly not a creation of nature. It seemed to be engraved with the writing of gods, yet it was obscure and dark.

The altar's surface was covered in a red liquid resembling blood, and it was actually still flowing. Was it her blood?

Aegwynn was confused.

If the corpse on the altar was herself, then what was she now? If the one on the altar was Aegwynn, then what was I?!

The altar looked as though it had just undergone a sacrificial ritual. The pitiful prey had been devoured by the master of the sacrifice, leaving only portions of its limbs behind. White, muscle-like patterns connected those remains, making Aegwynn's stomach convulse.

She lowered her head, wanting to vomit.

Yet the moment she lowered her head, Aegwynn—who had seen everything, even the king of demons—nearly screamed.

For she saw that at some unknown point, the ground where she had originally stood had become a pool of red blood. She hurriedly looked up, only to find that Fire Plume Ridge had vanished.

At that moment,

a gentle arcane pulse came from her hand, calming Aegwynn's heart. She looked down and saw Aluneth shining brilliantly in her grasp.

She raised her head and looked upon the mountains of corpses and seas of blood around her, a cold smile appearing on her fair, beautiful face.

"An illusion? An impressive illusion indeed. It seems my blood is the spellcasting medium. Aluneth, thank you!"

Aegwynn had already regained her senses. She knew what had happened and began attempting to break this curse-like mental magic.

Suddenly,

a jumble of voices rang out amid the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

She recognized it as Troll speech. Having lived for several centuries, the former Guardian was naturally fluent in many languages and understood it perfectly.

"Hey! You on the ground, move aside!! If you can still move, get out of the way!"

"Hey!"

"Damn it!"

"..."

The illusion shattered. As it did, Aegwynn seemed to hear a shriek filled with unwilling fury beside her ear—or perhaps she heard nothing at all.

She returned to reality.

Aegwynn looked up and saw the tall troll in the distance charging toward her while carrying the unconscious Modera in his arms, pursued by two fire elementals.

The dagger still dripping with her blood gleamed black in the sunlight. The unconscious Modera held it against her chest, and Aegwynn could not stop a chill from rising within her.

"Humph!"

Aegwynn snorted coldly.

The next moment,

light flickered.

She vanished from where she stood.

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