In a small town near the province adjacent to Tristin City.
This town was on the border of the province, only a few hours' carriage ride from Tristin City.
It was lunchtime and the sounds of laughter and clinking glasses filled a small tavern.
"Oh, interesting. It seems Isabel is in trouble."
A seemingly gentle redhead youth sat at the bar, smiling and sighing.
He was dressed in clerical attire. With a calm gaze, he seemingly possessed a mature demeanor that didn't match his appearance.
"Father, what were you muttering to yourself just now?" The customers around him asked.
The priest had just chatted and laughed with the unfamiliar customers around him.
From their brief exchange, the surrounding customers found that this priest was a very cheerful person.
"Ah, it’s nothing much. The Church is just facing a bit of trouble. It seems I have to carry the burden forward myself."
He sighed helplessly, but his expression was still relaxed. There was a sense of ease that seemed to be possessed by an absolute powerhouse.
"Father, is there anything we can help you with?"
"You guys? Hmm, let me think. Probably not. But I really appreciate your willingness to help me."
The priest smiled and waved his hand, as if declining the other party's kindness. And it seemed like he was also bidding farewell.
"Well then, goodbye."
With the priest's final words, a burst of flames accompanied by a stream of heat swept through.
A towering blaze rose, and the entire tavern and nearby houses were all blown away.
The priest's spell came too suddenly, too quickly.
The surrounding civilians hadn't even felt the pain before evaporating in an instant.
Within the ruins of the inferno, only the figure of the red-haired priest stood leisurely.
He wore a faint smile on his face, as if appreciating the scenery in his backyard.
Immediately after, a huge deep red flame shadow soared into the sky, swiftly heading towards Tristin City like a comet.
The priest raised his hand to his forehead, watching the flame shadow depart, seemingly finding the sunlight a bit dazzling.
"Show me your struggle, little special class card maker Dekan." He chuckled to himself.
Later, as he was about to walk out of the ruins, he seemed to sense some movement.
"Oh, coming so soon?"
He muttered to himself, and a peculiar black-and-red magic book appeared in his hand. Without looking back, he cast a spell.
Suddenly, a semi-transparent deep red flame vortex surrounded him.
As the flames appeared, the air in the entire area suddenly boiled, and the scorching energy spread at an indescribable speed in all directions.
In that instant, it seemed like even the ashes would be ignited again.
The spreading flames collided with a sword ray attacking from behind.
"Boom!" A muffled explosion erupted.
The massive impact and the force of the backlash swept in all directions. It was as if a storm was brewing in the entire ruins, with debris and dust flying all over the place.
The priest remained standing in his original position but the figure that had just attacked from behind retreated several meters before stabilizing.
"Hoho, didn't have lunch?" The priest squinted his eyes, turning slightly to speak with a hint of mockery.
A golden-haired, silver-armored female knight stood behind him.
However, compared to facing the female knight directly, the priest's gaze seemed to be fixed on the sword in the hands of the female knight. The sword had a dazzling golden radiance, like an eternal flame of holiness.
Even without identification, the priest could recognize it as a high-tier epic weapon.
"You demented lunatic, why did you kill those innocent people?!" The female knight pointed her sword at the priest, her icy face unable to conceal her killing intent.
"Hmph, when we fight, if there are civilians around, wouldn't you also feel constrained? I gave them a painless release so as to allow you to fight without worries. Both you and them should be grateful. That was my greatest kindness." The priest still held the book with one hand, standing straight with a composed smile.
"You beast..."
The female knight stared at the priest,
"Cardinal of Ruin, Evans! Today, I will bring down judgment upon you!"
"Oh dear, how scary."
Although the priest said that, he seemed completely unruffled and was summoning more creatures.
Around him, it seemed as if a legion from the demonic realm had instantly gathered.
As the two tier 8 powerhouses approached one another, a fierce battle erupted in the small town.
Even though Evans had sent away his ace card from afar, he remained calm and was unilaterally suppressing the female knight.
Perhaps another tier 8 powerhouse would be needed to equal Evans.
But that was also the task for the Cardinal of Ruin, Evans - detaining other tier 8 powerhouses that might go to support Tristin City.
The Kingdoms Federation had an astrologer who gave the Resurgence Church a headache, capable of roughly calculating the active areas of the Cardinals of the Resurgence Church at certain intervals.
If several Cardinals suddenly gathered in a short time, it would trigger the Kingdoms Federation’s highest tier alert.
For example, if it was detected that all the Cardinals were approaching the Norton Kingdom, it would directly expose the intentions of the Cardinals and lead to a full-scale encirclement by several tier 8 powerhouses from the surrounding kingdoms.
So, the Cardinals couldn't gather as a whole to capture a particular special class card maker.
They could only try to maintain regular movements to confuse the Kingdom Federation.
The only Cardinal who frequently operated near the Norton Kingdom was the Cardinal of Ruin, Evans.
He was the only one who could provide certain support to the plan in Tristin City without alerting the Kingdoms Federation.
If Cardinals gathered near their national borders, Norton Kingdom generally wouldn't actively seek trouble with them as they were too difficult to deal with and their methods were extremely sinister.
However, once a Cardinal entered the borders of the Norton Kingdom, the kingdom would dispatch tier 8 powerhouses willing to pursue and besiege the Cardinal at any cost.
So, when Evans entered the borders of the Norton Kingdom, he was pursued all the way by tier 8 powerhouses. It was like he had a taunting effect on him the entire time.
For now, the only one who caught up with him was the female knight, whom he easily dealt with.
But it wouldn't be long before more tier 8 powerhouses arrived.
By then, he could only fight and run at the same time.
But that was fine; it was exactly Evans's purpose.
Even if these tier 8 powerhouses didn't come after him, he would find a way to intercept the tier 8 powerhouses going to support Tristin City.
Otherwise, even if Isabel managed to capture the Ice Princess, it would be challenging to successfully leave the territory of the Norton Kingdom.
...
Above the wilderness of the Norton Kingdom.
A deep red flame shadow streaked across the sky.
Wherever it passed, it was as if the sky was being covered.
The temperature seemed to make the cold winter slightly warmer.
However, this was an abnormal temperature change that made any creature uneasy. They felt as if whenever this flame shadow arrived, everything would turn into a scorched earth hell.
Tristin City.
The Ice Princess set down her cup, abruptly stood up, and looked out the window. She felt that something terrifying was getting closer and closer to Tristin City.
She looked into the distance, furrowing her brows as if trying hard to identify something.
[Destruction Demon Lord - Zestli]
[Category: Summoning Card]
[Rarity: Orange Epic]
[Tier: 8]
[Effect: Immune to all crowd controls. Resurrects immediately upon death with a cooldown of 1 hour. Each resurrection causes large-scale destruction.]
[Note: Destroy! Rebirth!]
Soon, the Ice Princess reached a conclusion from her identification, and her expression became extremely serious.
Without hesitation, she used wind magic to fly towards the direction of the incoming “Destruction Demon Lord,” leaving a frost-like afterimage in the air.
At the entrance of the Tristin Magic Academy.
Dekan poked his head out of the carriage, raised a telescope, and looked at the sesame-sized black figure in the distant sky.
Without identification, he could roughly recognize it.
This was the ace card held by one of the ten Cardinals of the Resurgence Church, Cardinal of Ruin Evans.
"You’re kidding me. How exactly is the Ice Princess supposed to handle that?" Dekan put down the telescope, returned to the carriage, and frowned.
Being immune to control, Ice Princess's greatest strength was nullified. Being able to revive, the low damage output Ice Princess couldn't exhaust it. Its death would bring about destruction so the Ice Princess couldn't fight it in the city and had to intercept it outside the city.
To be honest, Dekan was starting to think about going back to the capital to attend school. Maybe he could even catch the last class this afternoon.
As for the Ice Princess, she could die for all he cares.
In addition to this “Destruction Demon Lord,” there was also a trusted aide of the Cardinals hidden in the dark.
Holding an epic spell card capable of enslaving the Ice Princess, the aide was ready to strike and then enslave her.
It could be said that the Ice Princess was already in a precarious situation.
If it weren't for the Ice Princess being so aloof and arrogant, if only she could cooperate a little with Dekan's plan, things wouldn't have been so troublesome.
One could only say that this woman's mind was as cold as ice.
However, Dekan still wanted to try and save her.
Because she wasn't bad.
At the first moment, the Ice Princess chose to go out of the city to intercept the “Destruction Demon Lord.”
If she really didn't care about anything, there was no need to resolutely fight against a tier 8 epic summon where she had no chance of winning.
"Dekan, what should we do?" Seeing Dekan's troubled expression, the lord also panicked.
It was the first time he saw Dekan show a "troubled" expression.
"I can't say for sure whether I can save the Ice Princess now because it depends on whether my companions are willing to accompany me on this adventure." Dekan replied.
Then Dekan looked at Croix and asked: "Croix, do you want to go for a big gamble, or should we take the lord and run away directly?"
Croix: "Is the big gamble very dangerous?"
Dekan: "If we go for the big gamble, the two of us might end up in trouble together. But if things work out, the king will have to personally entertain us, at the very least."
Croix: "You don't want to take down this ‘Destruction Demon Lord,’ do you?"
Dekan: "Bolder."
Croix: "And... you want to capture the Cardinals’ aide?"
Dekan: "Even bolder."
"..."
This time, Croix remained silent for a few seconds.
Gradually, he thought of a terrifying possibility.
Somewhat tentatively, he asked: "...you wouldn't be targeting the Cardinal of Ruin Evans, would you?"
Dekan nodded: "I keep feeling that guy is trying to show off from afar. I can't stand it. I want to teach him a lesson."
"..."
At this point, the lord, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, was already dumbfounded.
He was utterly dumbfounded.
If it were anyone else sitting here, they would undoubtedly think that Dekan was a lunatic!
Is Evans your current enemy that you should be worried about?
And, did you just frown not because you felt troubled but because you couldn't stand someone showing off from a distance?!
