"You think I only prepared those two tricks?"
The ultimate sacrifice array operated at full capacity. The vitality of countless Emerald City residents and Paladin Order members who had come to provide support was drawn out, pouring into his body like a river flowing backward.
Aaron Brightstar laughed maniacally. His reassembled body began to swell under the array's empowerment. Sinister patterns emerged on his skin as his aura surged, breaking through the 7th-rank barrier and advancing toward the 8th.
It didn't stop there. His power continued to skyrocket through the 8th rank, as if he had engaged a nitro boost, charging fiercely toward the 9th rank.
"This city was my altar from the very beginning! All of you are merely sacrifices!"
In the sky, the Proxy of the God of Holy Light frowned slightly.
A spear of terrifying power condensed in her hand once again.
She aimed it at the center point where the horrifying blood energy converged—the core array core of the third-tier sacrifice array!
......
Inside the collapsing City Lord's Mansion, the two men looked on with solemn expressions.
If the strike from Lady Proxy landed, even if it didn't hit them directly, the mere aftershocks would be enough to kill them or at least strip away a layer of skin.
At the same time, though they had escaped the trapping array, both were still within the range of the sacrifice array.
Since this array was designed to sacrifice powerhouses of at least the 8th rank, it naturally began to drain their vitality.
However, both started to resist in their own ways.
The moment Jiang Lin prepared to flee again, a ring on his finger emitted a soft glow.
A shield appeared out of thin air, canceling out the draining force of the sacrifice array.
This was Aria's Star Track Ring.
It isolated him from the outside world, keeping Jiang Lin in a safe state for three seconds.
Simultaneously, Jiang Lin felt a surge of heat against his chest.
This time, it was the Saint Light Resonance Badge given to him by Catherine.
Was this badge going to release a shield too?
Just as this thought crossed Jiang Lin's mind, he noticed the scene before him beginning to twist and flicker, shaking and stretching violently like a reflection in water.
Then, an incredibly familiar—and far more intense than the Court of Space—sensation of vertigo hit him.
Despite having been teleported many times and developing some spatial resistance, his tolerance was useless against such a crude teleportation.
Was he... being teleported?
When his vision cleared, he was standing on a plateau outside Emerald City.
Soft grass was beneath his feet, and the cool night breeze brushed against his cheeks.
He covered his mouth, trying his best not to vomit.
Lights flickered around him as one figure after another appeared—Catherine, the burly man, Aria, and several other Paladin Order members.
Most were pale, and some were wounded from battles with cultists while destroying the array cores.
Their eyes were filled with the shock and bewilderment of survivors, as well as the discomfort of the sudden teleportation vertigo.
"Were we... teleported out?"
Aria looked around, her voice trembling slightly.
The short-range communication crystal in her hand was emitting a faint light, seemingly gradually restoring its connection.
While Jiang Lin and Rod were trapped, not only was Jiang Lin trying to send messages out, but they were also trying to contact the two of them.
Though they were outside the trapping array and had destroyed the two large-scale arrays, they couldn't reach Jiang Lin and Rod, so they didn't know exactly what was happening.
The Paladin Order warriors near the City Lord's Mansion had sent back word that the true mastermind seemed to be the Temple Master of the Emerald City temple, and that he had used an array to control Rod and Jiang Lin.
Consequently, 6th-rank powerhouses like Catherine had rushed from their respective stationed areas.
However, there hadn't been enough time for them to reach the City Lord's Mansion before the current turn of events occurred.
Lady Proxy had suddenly appeared in the sky. Following several thunderous booms, the ground shook, and a terrifying aura descended upon Emerald City.
They had felt as if they were being watched by a fearsome entity, their vitality draining rapidly under that gaze.
Then, the Saint Light Resonance Badge on their chests had emitted a warm glow and teleported them out.
......
Catherine quickly did a head count, her gaze sweeping over everyone's chests.
Every member teleported here was wearing a Saint Light Resonance Badge.
"It was Lady Proxy.
"She used the badges as a medium to pull us all out of the sacrifice range.
"It seems Lady Proxy was involved in the creation of these badges.
"That's likely why she could locate us and teleport us out."
Catherine took a deep breath and looked toward the center of Emerald City.
There, in the dark sky, stood an enormous phantom of an angel, radiating terrifying holy light. In front of the phantom stood a tiny figure, hovering like a god.
Even from a distance, one could feel the heart-stopping energy fluctuations.
At the same time, the entire city seemed to have fallen. Several crimson beams of light pierced through the city, dividing it into sections.
Simultaneously, streaks of blood-light continuously flew toward the city center—these were the souls and vitality being drained from the people of Emerald City.
The burly man leaned against a rock to steady himself, looking at Jiang Lin with lingering fear:
"Brother Matthew, are you alright?"
Jiang Lin shook his head, touching the still-hot badge.
The holy light runes on the badge's surface were slowly fading, but the warmth remained.
Although he had guessed the enemy might have a third layer prepared, neither Little Black nor the Paladin Order's many array masters had been able to find a trace of it after so much calculation.
One had to admit the opponent had indeed played a superior hand this time.
Fortunately, a 9th-rank powerhouse had suddenly appeared on their side.
Otherwise, the losses for the Paladin Order would have been much greater.
Rod, the 8th-rank powerhouse, had not been teleported out by Lady Proxy.
He was likely left in the City Lord's Mansion to fight Aaron.
Or he had found another way to escape on his own.
"Where are the others?"
Aria asked.
She noticed only about twenty people had been teleported here, while more than seventy elites of the Paladin Order had entered Emerald City.
At this, Catherine's expression darkened.
She sighed and said:
"Many are still trapped in the array or have already been absorbed by the sacrifice.
"The operation... was still a failure..."
Catherine sighed again.
On the plateau, the night wind was biting, yet it could not disperse the heavy weight in everyone's hearts.
The sky and earth of Emerald City were split in two.
One half was the madly growing dark-red blood light, and the other was the sacred, dazzling golden holy flame.
They watched in silence as the city turned into a purgatory, their ears seemingly hearing the silent wails of countless lives fading away.
Catherine gripped the short sword at her waist, her knuckles turning white from the force.
In the distance, after the proxy had moved the core members of the Paladin Order to safety...
Standing in the sky, the proxy seemed to no longer have any reservations. The spear in her hand erupted with staggering energy fluctuations, and the clouds in the sky formed a massive vortex centered on her.
Then, the spear transformed into a pillar of light as bright as the sun, descending from the heavens and striking the City Lord's Mansion in the heart of Emerald City!
Boom—!
Following a violent tremor of the earth, visible golden ripples expanded rapidly from the City Lord's Mansion.
Rumble!
As the golden ripples spread, the ground of Emerald City shattered. The sacrifice array reaching dozens of meters underground was forcibly destroyed.
Looking down from above, the scene would have resembled a nuclear explosion.
With a single strike, she had annihilated the massive array beneath the city!
Aaron Brightstar's figure was completely submerged in the golden light.
As for Rod, the 8th-rank powerhouse who had been in the mansion, his whereabouts were now unknown.
The third hidden array was deeply bound to the earth veins. Forcing its destruction inevitably caused the veins to oscillate, causing massive collapses throughout the city's architecture.
More than half of Emerald City's buildings would be destroyed.
But there was no better way; otherwise, everyone in the city would have been sacrificed.
The tremors subsided, and the blood-red specks of light that had been flying toward the mansion drifted away like kites with severed strings, dissipating powerlessly into the air.
The sacrifice had been forcibly terminated.
However, the price had already been paid.
Throughout Emerald City, countless residents were buried within the collapsed ruins.
But there was no longer any breath of life within them.
The streets were littered with the bodies of residents who were either unconscious or had already lost their lives. Their skin was shriveled and their faces haggard, as if they had been desiccated for decades.
The entire city was terrifyingly silent.
There was only the sound of the wind and the low hum of the energy aftershocks that had not yet fully settled.
On the plateau outside the city, Catherine and the others watched in silence.
Was the mission a success?
They had prevented the completion of the sacrifice ritual, killed Aaron Brightstar, and stopped him from completing the ascension ceremony.
They had thwarted a plan he had spent years plotting, which had nearly wiped out everyone from the Paladin Order.
Was the mission a failure?
Countless residents of Emerald City had their vitality drained and lost their lives forever during that brief activation of the sacrifice.
Of the more than seventy elites who entered the city, fewer than half were teleported out in time; the fate of the rest was unknown.
This "victory" was so bitter it was suffocating.
However, after the dead silence, painful wails of exhaustion and the cries of a few children drifted from a handful of ruins.
Even in disaster, life remained resilient.
Although the third sacrifice array had been activated, it hadn't had time to sacrifice everyone's lives in a single instant.
Catherine was the first to break the silence, her voice regaining its usual composure:
"Everyone, split into three groups—rescue team, security team, and communications team.
"The rescue team is to enter the city immediately to search for survivors, prioritizing our comrades from the Paladin Order and civilians showing signs of life.
"The security team will set up defenses outside to prevent any counterattacks from cultist remnants or further anomalies from the evil god's descent.
"The communications team will use all available means to report the situation to the Royal Capital and request medical supplies, resources, and reconstruction support."
The group nodded silently, suppressing their churning emotions.
Just as they were about to move, a blinding blood light suddenly erupted from the center of Emerald City!
That blood light didn't come from the ground; it shot up from the depths of the City Lord's Mansion ruins, twisting and condensing in the air into a blurry, hideous face.
The face opened its giant mouth and let out a silent roar, causing the dark-red afterglow of the sky to vibrate.
It was the face of Aaron Brightstar!
"He didn't completely die even after an attack like that?!"
On the plateau, everyone who saw this was shocked beyond belief.
They couldn't imagine how he could still survive such a strike.
However, the proxy in the sky didn't seem particularly surprised.
Her eyes, filled with divinity, looked quietly at the rising Aaron Brightstar.
The face formed from blood light twisted and expanded, letting out a silent yet soul-shaking roar.
The roar didn't travel through the air; it exploded directly in the depths of everyone's hearts, carrying a stinging mental pollution.
Many members of the Paladin Order on the plateau groaned, clutching their ears as blood seeped from their facial orfices.
Jiang Lin also felt dizzy, but the apostle's heart inside him emitted faint light, helping him endure it.
That wasn't Aaron Brightstar's original voice, but a whisper mixed with the final wails of countless sacrificed victims.
The massive face hovered in the sky. Its eyes were two bottomless blood-red vortexes, staring fixedly at the radiant figure in the heavens.
"You think you can kill me like this?"
The blood face spoke, its voice layered, as if thousands were screaming at once.
"My ascension ceremony was not perfect, but it is complete!
"I have become an immortal part of the Lord of Pleasure!
"Right now, it is merely this physical body that has collapsed. I am far from true death!
"It is impossible for you to kill me now!
"Once I have regained enough power, it will be your day of judgment!!"
With that, he let out a boisterous laugh.
The soul-shaking laughter spread throughout Emerald City, causing many surviving ordinary people to suffer another spiritual attack, blood instantly flowing from their eyes and ears.
In the sky, the proxy remained still, the angel phantom behind her glowing even brighter.
She raised her right hand, palm upward, and softly chanted:
"Holy Light · Cleansing Flame."
There was no world-shaking commotion, only a small flicker of pure white flame appearing in her palm.
The flame seemed weak, yet it caused the surrounding space to warp slightly.
Jiang Lin and the others couldn't see it clearly from their position.
But they could feel a fluctuation radiating from the sky that was even more heart-stopping than before.
Instinctive reverence and fear rose from the depths of their souls.
This was a flame capable of burning all filth and purifying all sin.
Then, the proxy gave a gentle blow.
The white flame in her palm drifted out, falling toward the massive blood face of Aaron Brightstar below.
There was no explosion, no impact.
The moment the white flame touched the blood face, it was like a hot iron falling into snow.
The dark-red blood melted and evaporated at a visible rate. The faces of the vengeful spirits within vanished into wisps of smoke the moment they touched the white flame, as if they had never existed.
In the next second, the entire blood face was filled with pure white light from within, becoming covered in cracks.
The proxy softly uttered two words:
"Purify."
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