As she flew closer, the scenery made her heart sink. Dark clouds covered the sky, lightning flashed, and sharp hail fell, while the ground was split by countless ravines. Rend had carved open Rift after Rift, as if the area had suffered more than one severe earthquake.
Passing one Magic Array node, Lilith saw an enormous melted cavity dozens of meters wide, with shocking scars across the land like it had been bombed. From a pile of mud and rock, she dug out half of a barely intact puppet head, trying to read what remained. She only saw a huge black shadow and a storm sweeping past, and then nothing.
"What in the world is that thing!"
After that, Lilith did not hesitate and flew straight toward her Sky Island. There were automatic protective Magic Circle and a half-damaged Spatial Barrier there. As long as it was not something completely absurd, it should hold.
Yes, it should be fine.
A massive problem appeared in Lilith's long-range Magic detection. It was an enormous, terrifying Black Dragon with an extremely wide wingspan, easily the largest dragon she had ever seen. When she noticed some very familiar features, she froze for a moment.
Before she could even finish being shocked, she screamed, "No!"
She watched as the dragon brutally smashed all the protective barriers into Shard, then whipped its tail and shattered the half-broken Spatial Barrier into Shard as well. It did not stop there, looking around her Sky Island and even hooking its huge claws on the edge. Then came the action that made her blood pressure spike.
It spun the entire cone-shaped island like a top.
Like a top.
"Hehe, this thing is pretty novel."
After failing to brake in time and smashing through many things, Belial finally stopped accelerating and came back to his senses. With interest, he examined the inverted cone-shaped Sky Island in front of him. He had noticed it from far away and found it very intriguing.
The buildings and the tower on it were delicate and elegant, like an old art piece, though he did not understand why there were newer structures with bricks and cement. The area was large enough that he could stand on it and even take a few steps, though he chose not to test it, given his weight of tens of thousands of tons. Through Energy Field Perception, he sensed strong Magic fluctuations and many complex Magic Circle that he could not understand.
A floating Sky Island like something straight out of the Otherworld was really right in front of him. "Is anyone there?" Belial turned his huge head and called softly, peering through the mansion's windows, though the place did not seem crowded.
Half of the island was scorched and bare, which felt oddly familiar, though he was sure he had never seen it before. He rested a hand on the elegant railing at the edge, which was more fragile than he expected, leaving several deep claw marks. "So no one is here?"
He muttered in curiosity, because his eyes told him there had been human activity not long ago. With no response after calling a few times, it really seemed empty. Still, the island's inverted cone shape and its floating nature made it look like an oversized childhood toy.
The buildings seemed sturdy, so Belial tentatively pushed the edge and gave it a spin. "Hehe, this is fun." He spun it a couple more times, laughing to himself, since only someone with his strength could treat a whole Sky Island like a toy.
"When will the people here come back, I wonder. And how should I talk to them?" He thought for a moment, remembering how busy his past days had been, always fighting or moving to the next fight. Most humans he met never got a chance to talk, and some even attacked him while he was sleeping.
These people seemed different, so if he acted harmless, maybe they could talk properly. "You…"
"Hmm?"
Belial sensed something and turned his head. A nearly pure white beam, containing six different elemental powers and massive Magic, dozens of meters wide, was tearing across the land. It ripped up the ground, smashed through hills, and screamed through the air with Rend as it blasted straight at him.
"Wow," Belial exclaimed softly.
"My Sky Island! Go die!"
"Damn Black Dragon!"
Lilith held her Magic Staff and rapidly assembled the Magic Array structure. Layer upon layer of complex formations unfolded around her as an overwhelming surge of Magic poured out. With ultra-wide aggregation Magic Array and her surrounding Magic field, six elements close to the level of Laws were driven into a continuous flood of magic.
In her fury, Lilith even tore off her Magic isolation devices, including her blindfold and hat, without caring for her body. In her head and eye sockets, there was no flesh. There was only clear, gleaming crystal, faintly shining from the extreme mobilization of Magic.
Lilith was quite famous in certain circles. As a mage who advanced into the Ascendant Hall, she did not rely on a single element as her Laws, because of her outstanding talent and enormous reserves of Magic. She explored every field within the Six Great Elements and took in their Laws at a basic level, then entered the High Tower on the island, and when she came out, she had already stepped into the Ascendant Hall.
Her spells, or rather their effects, allowed her to freely command the Six Great Elements within her expanded Mana Domain. She could also force violent reactions between them to produce even greater power. A single Light Cannon involved many layers, and at its core it was a massive collection of Magic.
Within the damage alone were armor stripping, penetration, burning, freezing, and many other negative effects. Its power was far from weak. "Haha… this is bad, I forgot to hold back. I hope I did not break it."
Only then did Lilith realize that in her anger she had even opened her domain. This shot was not a fully prepared all-out attack, but by power alone it was enough to instantly kill Gold. That absurdly huge Black Dragon had stood there like it was scared stiff, not even trying to dodge.
"Damn it, I hope it is still alive. On that dragon's back… huh?" The smoke kicked up by the Light Cannon slowly dispersed.
Inside was an unknown barrier, shaped like a prism, wrapping around the Great Dragon. The upper part was completely unharmed, and the earlier Light Cannon looked more like a flashy visual effect than an attack. "So close, I almost got hit… though it probably could not break my defense anyway."
Belial had instinctively deployed Photon Reflection Shield and taken the blow head-on. After seeing who the attacker was, and thinking about what he had just done, his back immediately broke into a cold sweat. It felt like a Teddy Bear sneaking into someone else's room, seeing a fine display case, and naturally reaching out with guilty little hands.
He had only handled the former the Lord for a moment before the owner returned. Normally that would mean instant rage and a brutal punishment for the Teddy Bear. The problem now was that the Teddy Bear was himself.
Extremely guilty, Belial could only obediently raise both hands. He did not fight back even if he got hit, since the attacks could not break through anyway. Lilith was panting hard, as drawing heavily on Magic to wield Laws brought not only exhaustion but also a dull pain from the crystals rooted in her body.
After several Light Cannon failed to break even the barrier released by that Black Dragon, and the dragon even raised its hands in a provoking gesture, she grew even angrier. "Damn it…"
By the time she finished firing several long-range Magic Cannon and finally arrived on site, Lilith only saw her slowly stopping, spinning Sky Island. The Black Dragon was already nowhere to be seen. Her eye twitched as she took in the huge claw marks on her island, the smashed defensive barriers around it, and the Spatial Barrier that was continuing to collapse.
"What exactly was that Black Dragon? An ancient dragon? I have never seen one that big, and it looked far too strange." "And on its back… were those crystals?"
Beyond its memorable appearance, enormous size, and strength, what interested Lilith most were the crystal-like spines protruding from its back. She put her blindfold and hat back on, hiding the crystals exposed on her body, and barely set up a balancing Magic Array to regulate her internal and external Magic. Only then did the intense pain slowly fade.
Crystal Witch. The word crystal meant nothing good to her. No matter the reason, Lilith now had to find a way to catch that Black Dragon and study it carefully.
First, she had to look at her increasingly ruined home. "My Magic Array…!"
After checking the Sky Island, aside from the huge claw marks, she found that the surrounding Magic and barriers were completely smashed. Worst of all was the Spatial Barrier. In theory, brute force alone might damage a Magic Circle, but it should not affect the barrier itself.
Yet there was now a huge hole in the barrier. How was that even done? When she examined the large ritual Magic Array structures, the more she checked, the more alarmed she became.