A gathering storm

"Humm—"

A long, powerful hand gently pressed down on the faintly glowing Communication Stone.

Baker's silver-white eyes flickered, and a slight ripple of emotion crossed his face.

"Is he coming?"

Soon, he put away the Communication Stone and cast aside his thoughts about the person on the other end.

Cold resolve settled over his handsome face once more.

Baker raised his head and slowly narrowed his eyes, looking toward a distant spot straight ahead.

There, the air warped, heat and radiation refracting the view into bizarre distortions.

Above a stretch of ancient ruins, a figure shrouded from head to toe in endless, sickly green light hovered high in the air.

That was not merely light. It was a highly compressed stream of negative energy particles, like a plague made tangible, eroding the surrounding laws with utterly domineering force.

Five enormous white skulls circled him. They were not the bones of dead creatures, but magical implements refined from the heads of some higher-order beings.

They bobbed in the void, their jaws opening and closing with teeth-grating clacks, as though chewing on invisible souls.

Sickly green energy beams shot from every skull's eye sockets and mouth. Each beam pierced the heavens and tore through the void like an ancient, evil blade of forbidden power.

Oceanic torrents of energy gathered overhead, forming a small energy vortex.

Countless specters howled within it—the final, despairing cries of imprisoned wills.

Those cries resonated with the energy, unleashing wave after wave of terrifying, tsunami-like spell pressure. Even several kilometers away, Baker felt needle-like stings across his skin—a physical reaction to his Mental Force Field being forcibly suppressed.

Around that supremely evil and terrifying figure stood seven or eight young wizards whose auras were every bit as powerful as Baker's.

They were no weaklings. Each was an elite