Southern Realm, Dense Forest.
Accompanied by a suppressive low cough, Luo En stood up from a cone-shaped giant pit a hundred meters deep, waving away the thick smoke and dust around him, and looked around.
The site was unrecognizable.
The land hit by this extraterrestrial strike sank vastly, and the soil melted by high heat turned into scorching magma, flowing into low-lying areas. An eerie red glow rose with terrifying bubbles.
Under the powerful shockwave, nearby mountains and rocks collapsed completely, and forests burned fiercely. Thick smoke with a sulfuric smell and pale ash from the burning material scattered with the wind.
On the scorched earth after the flames, there were withered and blackened roots of plants everywhere, and animal skeletons curled up in the ashes. Various bizarre remnants wove a hellish illustration that intimidated any onlooker.
Roughly estimated, an area the size of a large city was instantly destroyed, leaving only devastation.
Altria poked her disheveled blonde head out, raised her dirty face, and looked at this purgatory-like scene with lingering fear.
Had it not been for her teacher urgently shielding her, she would have perished under this sudden attack.
Saved by the teacher once again.
The Knight King looked up at the handsome half-profile, her heart inexplicably racing, her face burning, unsure if it was from the scorching heat waves around her or the accelerated flow of her own bloodline.
Just as Altria was spacing out, the ground beneath her violently trembled.
A light band interwoven with gold and blue patterns erupted from the ground vein, transforming into a spiral anchor of light that shot into the sky, forming a giant pillar linking heaven and earth.
Subsequently, the second, third, and fourth light anchors burst from the ground.
Finally, the light anchors born from the ground vein rose to a total of twelve.
Numerous Ogan Tree Runes faintly appeared among them, golden star fragments peeled off from inside the light anchors, scattering onto the ground, bringing a unique rhythm and resonance.
As the star fragments fell, the magic factors within the range began to riot, and everything on the ground began to mutate and go out of control at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Land degradation, crop failure;
Water sources dried up, forests withered;
Storms rampaged, all vitality extinct.
The rampant ether turbulence whipped up yellow dust, exposing barren soil. The yellowish sky and cracked earth formed a shocking apocalypse scene.
Order seemed to be collapsing, the world seemed to be dying.
Looking at this sudden change, Luo En’s head ached more severely:
"That damn careless woman was right, the prettier a woman is, the more deceitful she is."
"What?" Altria instinctively asked.
"Nothing. It seems your three sisters have set us up."
Luo En casually replied, turning his gaze to the broken sword hilt in Altria’s hand,
"Do you remember what I told you about another function of the Sword in the Stone?"
"It’s the key for me, a mere mortal, to forge the Divine Business. Given enough time, it could help me activate the ground vein and reconstruct the foundation of Divinity."
"But the key in your hand has been broken, and it can no longer construct its Divine Business in an orderly manner."
"Are you saying, this was King Perinor’s purpose in challenging me to a duel?"
Luo En shook his head, looking at the twelve enormous light anchors standing between heaven and earth, and the rapidly mutating world, he coldly snorted,
"Destroying the key in your hand was just the first step, their true purpose was to awaken the second key in the ground vein, bringing the world back under Danu’s dominion."
"The second key in the ground vein? Do you mean these twelve Holy Lances? But when were they embedded into the ground vein..."
Altria was slightly taken aback, the answer escaped her lips,
"Those twelve Holy Nails for ’Purifying’ the ground vein!"
To eliminate the accumulated Calamity power in Britain, she led the Round Table Knights through twelve dynastic wars, and each time they conquered an area, the elves would embed a Holy Nail into the ground vein, claiming to purify it.
Now it seems, those so-called ground vein purifying Holy Nails were actually fragments of the Holy Spear Rengomiad.
Their purpose was to someday replace the Holy Sword with the Holy Spear, to take away the control of Heavenly Destiny from her hands and give it to the Great Mother Goddess Danu.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
Simultaneously, the twelve fully-grown Holy Lances connected into a perfect circle, contracting inward from the outskirts of Britain.
Where the light passed, everything was obliterated, the world collapsed, and all tangible entities decomposed into pure Spirit Particles, absorbed into the golden-blue vortex in the sky.
Watching the spectacle before her, Altria was full of despair:
"It seems my three sisters never intended to give me time to grow. They plan to use the Authority of the Holy Lances to directly destroy this mental manifestation world. Once the world collapses and everything is obliterated, my consciousness will forcibly merge with Danu’s. Having just lost the Sword in the Stone that represents Britain’s Heavenly Destiny, and with the Round Table Knight Order divided, plus my life being so short, the only fate awaiting me would likely be being assimilated by Danu’s Divinity."
"Hmm, achieving their goal without direct confrontation, a very clever approach."
Luo En nodded, but a sly smile appeared on his face,
"But it’s okay, I have something up my sleeve too! Since they’re playing tricks, I won’t hold back either!"
Then, under Altria’s shocked gaze, Luo En raised his hand high, summoning a golden overflowing cup from a silver-white swirling door, and poured its contents onto the ground.