Aurora's final sword strike ultimately failed to land.
Clang.
The sword clattered onto the deck.
Her trembling, weak hands could no longer hold the sword steady.
The girl collapsed to the ground, hands supporting herself, blood gushing from her eyes. She felt pain in every part of her body.
Maleficent, transformed into a giant dragon, burst into laughter.
The Queen, the Sea Hag, and the Soldiers accompanying the ship all turned grim.
If Black Witch Maleficent won, none of them would survive!
The Sea Hag frowned, a determined glint flashing in her eyes.
She had resolved to fight to the death.
"Maleficent, we cannot defeat you, but we can perish together with you."
"Let us all be doomed to eternal damnation!"
The Sea Witch's eyes glowed a deep ocean blue, her seaweed-green hair spread out, and a storm swirled before her.
"Meaningless struggle," Maleficent snorted coldly.
The next moment, the entire sea area where the pleasure boat was located turned profoundly dark. Deep shadows enveloped hundreds of meters of the ocean.
"Let us all be buried at the bottom of the sea!"
The Sea Witch transformed the entire sea area into "Water of Inevitable Sinking"!
She intended to drag everyone on the ship into the sea.
Then, she would burn her life to gain a once-in-a-lifetime burst of powerful magic, at the cost of her life, to forcibly hold Maleficent in the sea for a period, forcing her to suffocate and die, perishing together with the Black Witch!
Black Witch Maleficent, in her dragon form, silently watched the Sea Hag cast her magic, merely smiling coldly without interrupting.
Nothing happened.
The massive pleasure boat did not sink into the sea as expected.
"The ship didn't sink? Why?"
A chill ran down the Sea Hag's spine.
"Surprised?" Maleficent showed a mocking smile. "Didn't you notice that ever since I boarded, this ship has been as stable as land, barely swaying anymore?"
At this moment, in the ocean beneath the ship.
Sturdy thorns and other strange, unidentifiable plants had grown from the seabed at some point, reaching almost to the surface, supporting the ship from below.
Essentially, the ship the Queen was on was not floating on the sea, but was suspended in mid-air by a large quantity of plants!
The Sea Hag instantly understood what was happening, and her heart turned cold, as if falling into an ice cellar.
Even the last possibility of perishing together no longer existed.
"Maleficent, there's no need to drag this out. Kill them all!" the Eastern Witch said. "Two Witch Society traitors, that girl named Aurora, and everyone else on the ship. They all deserve to go to hell!"
The Eastern Witch had stood up at some point. The Soldiers who had been guarding her were all unconscious on the ground.
Behind the Witch, a translucent, ethereal blue vengeful spirit closely followed. It was the vengeful spirit of the Old Witch from Ender, who had now been freed by the Eastern Witch.
The Eastern Witch was not as severely injured and incapacitated as she had appeared earlier!
The Eastern Witch walked over to Aurora, smiling, took the silver shoe that had just been snatched from her pocket, and put it back on her foot.
"Hey, hey, where's the other silver shoe? Is it with the Wizard Rhine?"
The Eastern Witch yelled at Aurora, who was slumped on the ground.
Aurora didn't answer, only letting out a muffled groan of defiance.
"Damn it, I'm talking to you. Still stubborn whEnderath is at your doorstep."
"It doesn't matter if you don't answer. Your teacher must be dead by now, even his corpse melted. I'll just search his belongings then."
The Eastern Witch delivered a flying kick, striking Aurora fiercely.
But then, she immediately clutched her own foot, wailing in pain.
"Oh, I forgot this girl's skin is invulnerable."
"Idiot!"
Maleficent, in her dragon form, snorted with laughter, green sparks shooting from the dragon's nostrils.
The Black Dragon's massive head surveyed the surroundings, seeing the trembling Soldiers clutching their weapons, seeing the Sea Witch with a heart ashen and face pale with despair, seeing the Queen terrified out of her wits and teary-eyed, and seeing Aurora, collapsed helplessly on the ground, yet still glaring at her with murderous intent.
"That girl, even now, she still shows no fear? Still believes she might turn the tide? What is she hoping for?"
A hint of doubt flashed in Maleficent's mind.
"Well then, farewell, everyone!"
The Black Dragon opened her gaping maw, about to unleash her final magic.
Suddenly, a cold drop of rain landed on Maleficent's head.
Maleficent couldn't help but lift her head.
The sky had darkened.
At some unknown point, heavy dark clouds had covered the sky, obscuring the sun, and silver lightning snaked through the clouds.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The whistling wind played in their ears, and a biting gale swept across the entire sea.
This terrifying whirlwind spun around the ship, stirring up monstrous waves in the sea, with colossal, mountain-like waves crashing in succession.
The storm had arrived!
The surrounding Soldiers and the Queen all mistakenly thought this was just a normal natural phenomenon.
But only the Sea Hag, familiar with the ocean's temperament, detected the anomaly:
"Wait, there was no warning at all. This isn't a normal storm."
"And this sea area hasn't had a storm this big in over a decade."
"No way…"
The Sea Witch's gaze froze. She lifted her chin, saw the thick, layered dark clouds covering a sea area larger than a city, and heard the incessant roaring of the gale in her ears.
Whoosh.
Bone-chilling icy rain poured down from the sky.
Rumble.
Explosive thunder roared deafeningly.
The Sea Hag knew what this meant.
"Someone used magic to conjure an unprecedentedly massive storm out of thin air on the ocean!"
A silver-haired youth with a serene face walked step by step across the deck with elegant strides.
His right hand held a magnificent azure scepter, and the gale tugged at his silver-white cloak, making it flap loudly.
Swirling winds encircled the youth, and bone-chilling rain instinctively parted as it approached him, while silver lightning flashed and crackled within his body.
It was as if this slender youth was the monarch who commanded this storm.
—[Scepter of the Sea]!
"Eleven years it has been, and we meet again…"
The youth lifted his head, revealing a delicate face under the hood, as if he had stepped out of a fairy tale book. His silver hair swayed in the fierce wind, and his eyes gleamed with a cool light.
"Long time no see, Maleficent!"
Maleficent and the Eastern Witch were stunned when they saw Rhine.
"Rhine? Why are you here? Weren't you captured by Maglido in his gourd, turned into blood and utterly destroyed?" the Eastern Witch exclaimed in horror.
"Someone took my place," Rhine said calmly. "To be precise, a dead person…"
"I hope she's a good person in her next life."
…
On the outskirts of White Kingdom. In a lush green forest.
Maglido heard terrifying chewing sounds from within the gourd, followed by a barely audible, sharp scream.
The chief Wizard of Ender, a strange man from the Middle Eastern Countries, lifted his head and burst into laughter.
"Haha. That annoying fellow is finally dead!"
Ever since Rhine defeated him with the help of a mermaid in the Divination Tournament, this eccentric Wizard had held a grudge.
"The plan succeeded. According to the agreement, once the Eastern Witch returns to Oz, she will help me overthrow Oz in Emerald City."
"Only a few worthless Soldiers were lost, and an annoying fellow was eliminated, and in exchange, I gained the help of Oz's most powerful Witch. This deal is quite worthwhile."
Maglido was still immersed in joy when he felt a needle-like sting in his mind.
The Old Witch's vengeful spirit, with whom he had established a contractual link and controlled, had been destroyed!
"What's going on? What is the Eastern Witch doing? She actually let my painstakingly subdued vengeful spirit baby die."
Maglido couldn't help but complain a few times.
Inside the gourd, in the dark, confined space.
When Rhine's figure dematerialized and disappeared, the Old Witch's vengeful spirit appeared in his place.
This vengeful spirit, with a twisted, pained expression and shedding crimson blood tears, had just entered this dark space and hadn't yet understood what was happening when she felt the malice brewing in the surrounding air suddenly erupt.
Pure darkness swallowed her.
Terrifying, monster-like chewing sounds emanated from the darkness.
In just an instant, this ethereal vengeful spirit shattered.
She was absolved, her obsession dissipated, and her immortal soul could finally reincarnate.