The most terrifying battle had erupted, and the entire Nangong Island was drowned out by the sounds of gunfire and the commotion of exploding bullets. Yama emitted an astonishing howl as it was wrapped in chains, one end tied to the tail of the Martinez, being dragged across the sky .
The space mothership didn’t stop moving because it entered combat; instead, it continued to drag Yama across the zenith, as if to take it out of this world. Its attention was entirely focused on dragging Yama, and that was its top priority.
"Spatial Tide." Farosa suddenly realized what the Martinez intended to do, "A highly random disturbance wave, like the ebb and flow of the tide. Once the tidal conditions are just right, even the smallest crack can be expanded by millions of times."
Xu Yang couldn’t help but think of the Reality Manipulator on board the Martinez, whose ability was to open a rift that shuttled through worlds. Previously in war, she had used this method to absorb the majority of the firepower projected by the Chika Island, thereby securing victory in the naval battle.
"You mean," Xu Yang hurriedly climbed onto the stone platform, taking Farosa with him towards the ancient rock face and sacrificial altar that marked the seal, "Once the Spatial Tide is right, the witches can open a crack big enough to take Yama away?"
"That’s why they keep gliding in the sky... just like stirring the water in a basin with a hand," Farosa looked up and observed, "With the size of Yama and this space mothership, their movements would pull on the entire structure of space, eventually inducing a Spatial Tide to form huge waves. At the perfect moment, even a normal High-Ranking Witch could tear open an extra-large rift."
"But they haven’t succeeded, not for so many days," Xu Yang said, running fast. Farosa was somewhat weary, so he turned around, picked her up, and charged towards the altar in one breath.
"Because they are fools, idiots," Farosa rested her head against Xu Yang’s neck, "The randomness of the Spatial Tide is great. If a Supreme Witch came to control the opening and closing of the world’s fissures, they could easily take Yama away. But their company’s witches are far from that strong, so they can only keep trying their luck, trapped on Nangong Island."
"This gives us a rare opportunity." Xu Yang sat in front of the altar, carefully prepared, opened the spellbook in his memory storage, looked for the section about the Moonlight ritual and began to recite the entire text in a low voice.
A 2200-word sacrificial text, which would take a wizard apprentice weeks to fully memorize, posed no problem stored in a brain processor. He was familiar with every footnote in the book and the context and detail of the text before and after, allowing him to recite it completely and easily.
As the sacrificial text was recited, the entire Moon-Silver Altar began to emit a faint glow as well. The altar itself was connected to the "Mond" Moonfire, serving as the sole channel of communication.
Pan Ruiyi must withstand the pressure. Farosa thought to herself. She looked toward the sky dome, where Pan Ruiyi was flying at high speed in perilous combat. The Martinez spat out more fighters from its belly to pursue her, and the well-trained Black Fire pilots arranged the jets in formation, blocking Pan Ruiyi’s path, using all their air combat skills to reduce her space for maneuvering and counterattack.
In the end, Pan Ruiyi was cornered by 7 heavy fighter jets, completely unable to escape. If she executed an extreme emergency landing and returned to the ground, she might have had a chance to fight for her life, but she knew she had a mission to complete and couldn’t run away.
She maneuvered at high speed in the air, using every method at her disposal, consuming energy excessively. Her armor kept warning her of the risk of overloading and stalling. But what she felt in her heart was not fear, but unprecedented courage.
Faced with a Pan Ruiyi who was difficult to control in a short time, one of the fighter jets received an order from the mothership, preparing to return and bomb the seal. Sensing its action, Pan Ruiyi stopped evading and spun towards one of the fighter jets. The Iron Wings on her back fired again to accelerate, and the engines reached peak performance. She shot toward the "Sky Dominator" like a black arrow and went straight through it!
The pilot, along with the fighter jet, disintegrated in the sky, bursting into a ball of fire. Pan Ruiyi flew through the debris, spinning in the air to regain her balance, her armor now adorned with numerous scars, many of its external structures completely shattered. She fought to overcome dizziness, while the rest of the fighters had to abort their dispersal formation maneuver and began to regroup to encircle her again.
More bullets began to track Pan Ruiyi’s form as she weaved through the air. High-velocity kinetic rounds and fire from the space mothership’s hovering cannons were extremely lethal. She felt a sudden chill in her right arm and then saw it disappear below the elbow, sparks flying, blood spurting—it happened so fast she couldn’t even see what had severed her hand.
The remaining six heavy fighters reformed their formation, spaced far apart from each other, at different altitudes, precisely locking down all of Pan Ruiyi’s avenues of escape.
Pan Ruiyi let out a disdainful scoff. She knew she had found a stronger and more worthy entity to follow.
So then... fight to the death without ceasing!
Observing the hopeless Pan Ruiyi from a distance, Farosa nodded silently; among the tools at her disposal, Pan Ruiyi had proved to be excessively useful.
At this moment, the Moon Silver Altar was brimming with moonlight-like radiance. Xu Yang finished murmuring the last line of the ritual, and a striking white light shone forth from the altar as the apparition of the giant dragon slowly rose.
This dragonic phantom was magnificent enough, its scales frosted, its horns ornate, and its eyes ablaze with a restless pale fire.
"Who summons the Moonlight Flame?" the phantom of "Moonfire" Mond intoned with majestic murmur.
"Mond," Farosa placed her hands on the altar, "I intend to claim this island fallen betwixt the gaps, and I seek your swift arrival here to shatter this vessel, to reseal this monster just as you have done in the past."
"Yes," Mond nodded slowly, "It was I who sealed Yama under the mortals’ summons."
"I, on behalf of the future Witch Goddess," Farosa placed a hand over her heart, her expression solemn, "invite you to solve our current plight."
"Farosa," Mond whispered, "Oh, it has been since the moon witnessed your birth..."
"No time for idle chatter, Elder Dragon," Farosa said, "I am willing to owe you a favor, so hurry up and clean up this mess for me."
The apparition of Mond disappeared from the altar.
"Has it been frightened away by you?" Xu Yang observed.
"It has agreed." Farosa looked toward the chaotic void outside Nangong Island, "The Elder Dragon is trying to rush here from its own realm."
Meanwhile, the second wave of attack sent by the Martinez also arrived. Zhang Yunxi led the remaining task force members in a desperate counterattack. They built crossfire positions around the massive rock wall and the altar where Xu Yang and Farosa were located, trying to defend from a higher ground.
Large numbers of assault troops were parachuting down from the space mothership, preparing to seize the altar. Several black drones swept in at high speed to clear the way for the infantry, constantly launching missiles toward Xu Yang’s position, using rocket-propelled grenades and incendiary bombs to carve through the barren rock formation once again, blasting Zhang Yunxi and her team members to smithereens, leaving limbs and blood rivers in their wake.
——And then everything reset to the starting point. When the assault troops from Black Fire Innovation passed through the gate, they saw the altar, the rock wall, and the few enemies all intact, though the expressions on both sides were equally astonished.
"This..." Zhang Yunxi’s hand shook so much she could not pull the trigger. She remembered desperately trying to dodge, yet was torn apart by the bombs, with every bone and nerve-endings’ pain vivid in mind. But now she stood unharmed in the same spot.
"Lesson two: Near me, death becomes very difficult." Farosa smirked, "Now defend this place carefully and don’t let the enemy get close to me."
Zhang Yunxi clenched her fists, shouted loudly, and quickly crouched behind the barricade, continuously firing at the enemy attempting to climb up. Her fellow squad members also entered an almost maniacal state, unable to comprehend what was happening, knowing only to keep attacking, to continue the fight!
On the mothership Martinez, the commander and the Witch had noticed what was happening at the sealing point. No matter what kind of attack, it was neutralized. What to do?
Yama issued an angry roar, sensing that the Moonlight Flame which had subdued it a thousand years ago was returning.
"We have no time left, open the rift." The Black Fire commander said in a heavy tone.
"Yes." The Witch swiftly rushed out of the command center, onto the bridge’s end. Nearby personnel presented her with precious Magic Potions. She swallowed all the potions, unleashing her Magic Power. In front of the entire space mothership, a vertical rift was struggling to open, barely taking shape.
The spatial structure around Nangong Island was extremely unstable, significantly increasing the difficulty. She bit down hard, releasing all her might.
"It’s been an honor to join this expedition of despair with all of you!" the commander declared, "We will fire at fate as always, even if it means paying with our lives! Martinez, all hands on deck!"
The loud alarm resounded throughout the space mothership. All personnel boarded their fighters, and the remaining 16 escort fighters took off, taking turns launching from the hangar and the deck’s two runways.
Pan Ruiyi was also killed in the repeated assaults, her body slammed to the ground like a torn rag, unrecognizable as a human. The 6 heavy fighter jets, receiving signals from the mothership, regrouped with the rest and dove towards the direction of the sealing point.
"Full ammunition barrage, bomb them to death!"
"Black Fire Innovation will prevail!" Angry roars and booming cries echoed in the communication channels.
Watching another wave of attack coming towards her, Farosa coolly stepped forward.
It had come to this point, and it was time to play her trump card.
She spread her arms wide, channeling the Divine Power in her soul to drive her Magic Power, becoming more adept at manipulating the Divine Power, continuously increasing the strength of her Magic Power.
Once it surpassed the critical point, a qualitative change would occur.
"Be careful," a gray brilliant light shone in both of her hands, more blinding than at any time before, "I’m going to use the Great Slaughter Law and exterminate all life here!"
This was Farosa’s currently most devastating strike!
On the other side, in Bibo City.
A full retreat order from the management had been issued; Rolo was packing his belongings.
"The Martinez isn’t coming back," he said. "Huang Feng... if we stay, we’ll get caught by the people from Kyoto Infinity."
"We failed?" Huang Feng lay sprawled on the couch; suddenly feeling stifled, "We lost?"
"That’s war," Rolo stated. "In war, there’s always a winner and a loser."
"Why did you join Black Fire Innovation?" Huang Feng lifted her head, "Evil forces will be exterminated by the forces of good."
"On the battlefield, I was a butcher," Rolo scoffed, "...but after I was discharged, I became a corporate dog. Why should we obey, listen to crappy rules, why...why bow our heads. Hiss...so I joined Black Fire’s battle..."
"I heard that the people in the Invisible Imperial Guard are all monsters." Huang Feng couldn’t help but sit up.
"Monsters..." Rolo took off his steel gloves, revealing a bunch of fierce black flames spurting from his arm. It had the form of a human hand yet kept leaping, "Burn——Huang Feng——we are burning!"