Faced with his former love, Sui Yun did not retreat a single step. Instead, the aura around him grew even more intense. “Bella, move! I don’t want to trade blows with you!”
“Then let me ask you this: did you only ask me about the auction because of what’s happening today?!”
Isabella’s voice was laced with a mix of anger and disappointment. Her fingers tightened slightly, and lightning could be seen dancing at her fingertips.
Philip, who was still locked in combat with Po Kong, saw Isabella appear and felt a surge of joy. He immediately shouted toward her back.
“Isabella Pride! Now is the perfect time for the House of Pride to fight for the Crimson City-State! After we bring these troublemakers to justice, I will give you everything you deserve!”
“I can stop them for you, but I won’t do as you say!” Isabella gave him a cold, sidelong glance before turning her attention back to Sui Yun. “So, what is your answer?”
“Tsk... it’s a long story, Bella. Just get out of my way!” Frantic with worry, Sui Yun was in no mood to explain. He could only repeat his demand.
“It seems we can only speak with our blades then.” Seeing that Sui Yun was unmoved, Isabella’s tone turned cold as she released her grip on his arm.
She gently unbuttoned the top of her shirt and pulled out the cross-shaped necklace from around her neck.
The pendant shimmered with an enchanting light under the stage lamps, but in the next second, it transformed into a massive two-handed sword nearly as tall as Isabella herself. Blue-violet lightning coiled around the blade, looking as though it could tear the air apart at any moment.
“Sui Yun, you still remember it, don’t you? Today, let it see how far you’ve fallen! Thunder!” Isabella’s voice boomed like a clap of thunder as her figure instantly turned into a bolt of lightning, charging straight for Sui Yun.
Despite his reluctance, Sui Yun could only grit his teeth and tear a similar pendant from his own neck. It transformed into a silver gauntlet in his hand, engraved with ancient runes and emitting a faint golden glow.
“Clang—!”
The moment the lightning collided with the gauntlet, a deafening roar erupted. Although Sui Yun managed to block the strike, the force of the lightning sent him flying backward, right off the stage.
Meanwhile, the battle on Starlight’s side was growing increasingly fierce.
As a mage, his way of fighting was entirely different from Po Kong’s. He stood behind an ice wall, his hands moving rapidly through a series of hand signs.
Since there were still many innocent bystanders in the venue, he absolutely could not use any large-scale, high-fatality spells.
“Ice Prison!” Starlight barked. The shards of the shattered ice walls suddenly rose from the ground, trapping several approaching shadows within them. The biting cold inside the cages instantly slowed the shadows’ movements.
The trapped assassins were then met with precision fire from Xia Duo above.
However, these assassins from the House of Red were clearly not ordinary men. One of them hoisted up a fallen comrade, using the body as a shield to block the arrows.
Another assassin swung a dagger, and a surge of scorching flames erupted from the blade, instantly melting a gap in the ice prison.
“Is that a spirit armament? Or an enchanted weapon?” Starlight’s brow furrowed as he quickly adjusted his strategy. He took a deep breath, traced a vortex in the air with his finger, and shouted, “Eye of the Storm!”
In an instant, a violent gale erupted with the stage as its center. The wind elements gathered the surrounding debris and ice icicles condensed from water elements, forming a massive whirlpool.
The ice storm swept through like a raging tide, swallowing a dozen assassins who couldn’t dodge in time. The few who managed to charge toward Starlight were pinned to the ground by arrows falling from above.
Despite the heavy casualties among the assassins, not a single gasp or groan could be heard on the stage.
Even if they were made of iron, it was impossible to have no reaction to such severe injuries. This eerie silence made Starlight uneasy.
“Why are these House of Red assassins so strange? Noah! What’s going on?” Starlight asked in a low voice during a brief lull in the fighting.
“I’m busy maintaining the soul link for all of you! I don’t have time to focus on such trivial matters!” Noah’s voice echoed in Starlight’s mind, sounding a bit weary. “However... their auras are indeed strange. How should I put it? They... don’t seem like living people.”
Starlight’s pupils constricted. He glanced at the assassins lying on the ground and noticed that although their bodies were pierced by ice blades and arrows, not a single drop of blood had flowed out.
Furthermore, the eyes behind their masks were hollow and dull, like soulless puppets.
This reminded Starlight of the night he met Little Gold. The two assassins who attacked them then had shown the same abnormal coldness, even choosing to self-destruct without hesitation once they knew they couldn’t succeed.
That emotionless resolve was exactly the same as what he was seeing now.
In the moment Starlight was lost in thought, one assassin managed to break through the Eye of the Storm. A dagger shimmering with a cold light pointed straight at his throat.
“Whiz!”
The sound of rushing air passed by Starlight’s ear as an arrow precisely pierced the assassin’s arm. Starlight reacted quickly, throwing a punch without hesitation.
Seeing that the mage had chosen close-quarters combat, the assassin didn’t bother to defend. Instead, he reached for Starlight’s throat with his other hand, attempting to trade his life for a killing blow.
However, the assassin never expected a terrifying force to hit his abdomen before he could even touch Starlight.
Back in Night Lotus Valley, Starlight had happened to receive the same blessing as Lian.
Over the past few days, that blessing had been slowly transforming his physique. Combined with his already decent physical condition, Starlight’s strength was now far beyond that of an ordinary mage.
The heavy, powerful punch sent the assassin flying. He landed hard on the ground, and the pitch-black mask he wore fell off to the side.
Starlight looked down, and the face revealed beneath the mask sent a shock through him.
The assassin had a bloodless, handsome face, but the vacant expression on it was bone-chilling.
His long hair, which had been tied back, fell loose, revealing a pair of long, pointed ears.
“An elf? This guy is an elf!? Could it be... that all the assassins we’ve encountered, and all the ones here, are elves!?”
“Noah, did you see that? These assassins... they’re elves!” Starlight said urgently through the soul link.
“I saw it...” Noah’s voice was heavy. “Their state... no wonder I thought they were strange! It turns out these guys don’t have souls at all!”
Starlight’s mind fell into chaos, with countless thoughts racing through his head like lightning.
If their enemies were all elves, didn’t that mean they had already killed many of Moen and Xia Duo’s kin?
And what did Noah mean by “don’t have souls”?
How could a creature without a soul move normally? Was it undead magic?
More importantly, how was he supposed to explain all of this to Moen and Xia Duo?
Rate on N.U.
