’The Rules here... are helping me.’
This wasn’t luck.
It was the "fairness" of the Star Spirit Race’s trial, pulling everyone down to the same starting Realm.
But for Ian, this was the best news he could have hoped for.
He possessed Limit-Breaking Skills that shouldn’t exist in the Level One Realm, assistance from his panel, a powerful physical body bordering on Level Two, and the fully awakened Shadow Messenger, Gaga.
As for his enemies...
They were now just a group of "slightly stronger Level One Wizards."
"Gaga," Ian called out in a low voice.
The black Raven leaped from the shadows and landed on his shoulder.
The little guy seemed completely unaffected by the Rule suppression; in fact, the dark luster of its feathers had grown even richer.
The shadows in the Illusion Realm were thin, but the ambient Dark Energy was unusually active.
"Ian, I feel... so clear, gaga."
Gaga’s small eyes sparkled, and tiny specks of starlight swirled in the depths of its heterochromatic pupils.
"My Shadow Perception range has at least doubled, and... I think I can sense an ’Omen’ of things."
"An Omen?"
"It’s like... before danger gets close, the shadows ’tremble’ in advance."
Gaga tilted its head, trying its best to describe it.
"Like ripples on the surface of water. I can feel the direction the ripples are coming from."
A shadow Omen.
A sharp glint flashed in Ian’s eyes.
’This must be the result of Gaga’s Talents fusing further after the Mirror Demon trial.’
"Very good." He rubbed Gaga’s little head.
"Now, it’s time for us to get our ’revenge.’"
He looked up into the depths of the Star Sea.
As far as he could see, at least twenty-some platforms were floating at varying distances.
Flashes of Witchcraft had already lit up some of the platforms.
The fighting had begun.
The Rule suppression had scattered all the factions that had been grouped together, teleporting everyone to random locations.
This meant...
Bazaar and Selas were very likely on their own right now.
’Start with the weak ones first.’
With a light tap of his toes, Ian shot forward like an arrow, skimming toward the nearest platform that had Energy fluctuations.
There was no gravity in the Star Sea Illusion Realm; movement was entirely dependent on propulsion via Spiritual Power.
But this was no challenge for Ian. The essence of Gravity Witchcraft was the manipulation of Force Fields.
He slightly spread his fingers, and with a minor adjustment to the lines of Gravity around him, his speed suddenly doubled, drawing a straight line through the air.
Ten kilometers away, on a shattered platform.
Two Liquidation Wizards from the Deep Red Royal Court stood back-to-back, their faces as pale as paper.
Before them, three Shadow Binders were slowly rising from the platform’s shadows.
In the Illusion Realm, the "independence" of shadows was further amplified.
These Rule Created Creatures had become more active, more dangerous.
"Captain... Lord Bazaar isn’t here. What do we do...?"
The young Wizard’s voice trembled, and the light from the Blood Blade in his hand flickered erratically.
"Shut up!" the middle-aged Wizard snarled, a Bloodline Shield coalescing in front of him.
"Hold on! Wait for the others..."
Before he could finish his sentence.
SSSK!
A slender, pale purple beam of light descended from the sky, precisely piercing the young Wizard’s glabella.
Ice and Fire Energy exploded inside his cranium, and his head burst like a watermelon, splattering the middle-aged Wizard’s face with red and white matter.
"Who?!" The middle-aged Wizard looked up in terror.
Ian’s figure dove down from the Star Sea, his right hand open and aimed at him.
"Goodbye."
A Rice Grain-sized black dot shot out and erupted on the middle-aged Wizard’s chest.
BZZZZ!
A three-meter-diameter Gravity Singularity formed instantly.
It pulled his entire body inward, compressing and crushing him!
Two seconds later, the Singularity dissipated.
In the center of the platform was a small pile of dark red dust mixed with bone fragments.
The three Shadow Binders seemed to sense a more dangerous presence.
Their bodies shuddered, and they slowly sank into the shadows, disappearing.
Ian landed, not even glancing at the two piles of remains as he quickly looted their belongings.
Two Dimension Bags, a few Middle Level Potions, and some Magic Stones.
"Poor," he commented, turning to leave.
But just then.
To his left, on a platform about ten kilometers away, a blinding, grayish-green light suddenly erupted!
The light carried a thick aura of death, like a rotting star exploding.
Even from so far away, Ian could feel a slight stinging in his Sea of Spirit.
"Selas..."
Ian’s eyes narrowed.
’He seems to be fighting something, forced to use a life-saving measure.’
"An opportunity."
He no longer hesitated. Unleashing his Gravity Field completely, his body shot in that direction like a meteor.
The Star Sea stretched out behind him in a faint silver wake, like a retrograde comet.
「At this moment.」
On a platform five kilometers away.
The ghostly fire under the hood of Silas the Dead Speaker flickered violently as his stick-thin right hand desperately clutched his left shoulder.
There was a wound there, deep enough to show bone, but it hadn’t been caused by a sharp weapon.
Instead, it had been viciously torn open by some kind of "Shadow Fang."
The edges of the wound had a dark blue sheen, as if they had been tainted by the Rules of the Star Spirit Race.
"Damn it... a mutated shadow creature..."
Selas gritted his teeth. His left hand quickly formed a Sealing Technique, and grayish-green Runes coalesced before him, forming a constantly writhing "Wall of the Dead."
In front of him, three abnormally shaped, mutated shadow creatures were slowly closing in.
They were no longer simple amalgamations of shadow but had a vague "biological" silhouette.
Their heads had split into three slits that resembled mouths.
Six twisted limbs extended from their bodies, ending in sharp shadow spikes.
What was more troublesome was their aura... they were all at Level One Peak!
’After the Rule suppression, even these damn things have gotten stronger...’
Selas cursed inwardly.
If he were at full strength, a single Death Ripple would have been enough to shatter them.
But now his Spiritual Power was suppressed to Level One. The power of his Death Witchcraft was greatly reduced, and he even had to be conservative with his Shields.
’I have to get out of here as soon as possible and find the others...’
Before he could finish the thought.
A pale purple beam of light, like a javelin thrown by the Death God, tore through five kilometers of the Star Sea and arrived in an instant!
Selas’s pupils contracted sharply.
The moment the beam appeared, the instincts he had honed over many years of combat screamed a frantic warning.
Danger! Extreme danger!
"Wall of the Dead—Triple Layer!"
His withered left hand shoved forward abruptly. Three grayish-green walls instantly stacked on top of each other, the light of their Runes flaring.
SSSHK!!!
The beam struck the wall.
The first wall instantly froze and shattered.
The second wall melted and vaporized.
The third wall trembled violently, its surface covered in cracks of Interweaving Ice and Fire.
But... it held.
"This level of power... It’s that little bastard!"
The ghostly fire in Selas’s eyes flared as he whipped his head around to look in the direction the beam had come from.
In the depths of the Star Sea.
Ian’s figure was approaching at a terrifying speed.
A faint purple Domain flickered around him, and the tip of his right index finger still pulsed with the after-Energy of the shot.
They were a thousand meters apart.
But to the current Ian, that distance... was as good as none.
"Selas."
Ian’s voice, transmitted through a vibration of Spiritual Power, was cold, calm, and carried an undisguised killing intent.
"Time to settle the score."
He raised his right hand, spreading his fingers.
Above his palm, three Rice Grain-sized black dots silently appeared, arranged in a triangular formation.
"This is the first interest payment."
"Due now."