"K-Kuhh!"
Shye desperately sprinted toward Wendy, realizing that he guessed correctly.
Dweezel managed to sneak inside the barrier and hid like a rat until the perfect opportunity arrived!
There was no way Wendy would be able to cast a [Mana Barrier] on ti.
And so, Shye's brain went into overdrive, thinking as his eyes darted about.
He was a hundred percent certain that Dweezel had a way to make a flawless exit.
Realizing he was too late anyway, Shye abandoned defending Wendy altogether and bolted toward the door, shouting, "Ian!"
He had never so desperately wished for his close friend to understand what he ant with just a single call of his na.
Ian was a scout and thus had inhuman reflexes like Shye.
He, too, was already sprinting toward Wendy with a furious expression, though he was a few milliseconds behind Shye.
This was why he imdiately realized what Shye was planning by rushing towards the door.
Ian swiftly made his move, performing finger seals before slamming one of his palms toward the ground, creating a black magic circle with a shadowy rune in the middle.
He then used [Blink Strike] in the next instant, reappearing behind Shye, who grinned and extended his arms toward his vice commander, as if he had expected him to reappear close by all along.
By this ti, Dweezel had already seized Wendy by the neck and was in the middle of vanishing.
The sinister snake smiled triumphantly, convinced that victory was at hand.
A mont later, Dweezel stood outside the barrier, positioned at the center of a black magic circle similar to Ian's, a fair young maiden in his grasp.
He didn't have that damned Izanagi brat's strange chains, but he had his hands.
And he had succeeded in his plan.
Yet before he could even savor his victory, a black blur was already streaking toward him—a wild, mocking grin plastered on the young man's face.
"Read you like a book, geezer!!" Ian roared, hurling a shadow chain toward Wendy, and securing it onto her shadow.
Dweezel realized what had just happened—he had seen it earlier.
…But he was powerless to stop it…
Not when he had been caught relishing his victory, completely off guard.
In the next instant, Ian vanished—alongside the prey Dweezel had fought so hard to capture, risking his own skin in the process.
"YOU CURSED BRATS!!" Dweezel roared in utter fury, losing his composure before his sons and daughters for the second ti.
This wasn't his only way to regain control of the Soul Barrier, but it was the most efficient one.
Now, he would undoubtedly lose a great deal of ti dismantling the barrier through brute force—there was no other way, not even with the aid of Soul Arts.
For the first ti in decades, Dweezel found himself in a position where victory was uncertain.
He had always been in control, even against Sanada.
How could he have predicted that his potential downfall would co at the hands of a group of ddleso youngsters—recruited by his rival through so absurd stroke of shitty luck?!
Well, it wasn't luck.
But Dweezel was certain that even Sanada hadn't expected the brats to perform this well.
"Primo, lure the deity—now!" he barked, breathless.
It was almost comical—Primo, who looked far older, being scolded like a misbehaving child.
Nevertheless, the eldest Hawkling understood the gravity of the situation. Without hesitation, he activated a circular device that pulsed with translucent black energy waves.
Raising a flute to his lips, he played a haunting lody that resonated with the energy waves, producing a chilling sound—eerily reminiscent of a dragon's distress call.
Was this how the Black Dragon of Destruction would have sounded in its final monts?
Only Dweezel and his most trusted aides knew the answer.
**
Inside the Black Dragon Gate, Wendy gasped for breath, her heart racing, her body trembling.
She had spent nearly two years pretending to be under Dweezel's control, a pawn in his harrowing experints, forced to bury her emotions deep within herself.
One wrong move and she would have been dead.
Over ti, an instinctive fear of the sinister snake had taken root in her soul.
True despair consud her in that single mont of capture.
The trauma of being an unwilling accomplice resurfaced, haunting her like a relentless specter.
She kept telling herself she was still pure of heart, that everything she had done was for a noble cause.
And it was true. She had never lost herself.
But the scars remained, etched deep in her soul.
She could endure being an unwilling accomplice. But she could never endure being the experint.
Wendy was deeply grateful that her friends, despite the abruptness and severity of the situation, had kept their cool and saved her.
"Wendy, are you alright?" Ian asked.
"Well… no. But we don't have a choice, do we?" She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down—though it did little to steady her trembling hands. "Let's get back to business."
Shye gave her a nod of appreciation.
He, too, wanted to console the visibly shaken priestess, but now wasn't the ti.
There were more pressing matters at hand than tending to wounded hearts.
Like… saving the world!
One way or another, Shye had recovered.
Without wasting another second, he swapped places with Harry, David, and the others, who looked visibly relieved— their mana reserves were running low.
While they weren't completely drained, they knew better than to push themselves.
They needed ti to recover, ensuring their mana was fully restored before the next battle.
Who knew when the Soul Barrier would shatter… or when that cursed gate would co crashing down on them?
Those bleak, soulless eyes, staring as they marched forward and attacked without hesitation… just the thought of them sent shivers down the spines of a few cohort mbers.
Shye knelt before the magic circle, placing his hands on the black scroll at its center and infusing it with his mana.
The transfer of responsibilities was complete.
Harry, David, and the others who had been channeling mana into the scroll sighed in relief, pulling out potions and a few easy-to-eat als.
anwhile, Ian stood guard at the gate, his senses stretched beyond, monitoring the enemy's movents.
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