Chapter 22: You Can't Outfly Me!

Chi! Chi! Chi!

Accompanied by three sharp piercing sounds.

A muffled groan sounded from within the flames.

Outside the flame prison.

A mass of flames rapidly surged upward, and Carlos Radner's body coalesced from the fire.

As he coalesced, flames continuously peeled away from his body.

Those three strange magic blades of astonishing power had already wounded him.

When the flames fell to the ground below, they spread rapidly as if alive, and in moments the garden below was a sea of fire.

Carlos Radner, who had quickly distanced himself from the flame prison, wore an uncertain expression.

"This guy is only at the early stage of Transcendent rank seven, yet his attack power is so formidable."

"This attack power probably rivals that of an eighth-rank Transcendent."

As a Transcendent, the gap between ranks seven, eight, and nine is still enormous.

A seventh-rank Transcendent can hardly achieve the attack power of an eighth-rank Transcendent.

"And his perception is also quite strong; in such a short time, he locked onto my position and even wounded me."

"Is this guy really a seventh-rank early-stage Transcendent?"

Feeling the injuries within him, Carlos Radner's expression grew more solemn, and he secretly began to gather power for a powerful move.

Both were seventh-rank, yet the opponent, even at early seventh-rank, was far more formidable than him at mid seventh-rank.

"I'm afraid... this flame prison... might not be able to trap him either."

Just as Carlos Radner was pondering.

The barrier of the flame prison suddenly trembled violently.

Then,

Sss—rip—

The barrier of the flame prison was forcibly torn open, creating a huge gap.

Then the mysterious figure shrouded in gray mist flew out directly through the massive rift.

No sooner had he flown out.

Hum!

Space-time trembled, and a milky-white pillar of light, a full three meters thick, descended from the sky, crashing down onto Gune.

Layers of strange and peculiar ripples bloomed within the white pillar of light.

For a moment, Gune was unable to move.

At that moment, many residents of the entire Navfort city district saw that dazzling pillar of light piercing through the thin clouds, like a divine descent.

This "Holy Light Scourge" technique was one of Carlos Radner's core methods, a special technique he had developed by combining the Light Principle with divine power and source energy.

The holy light contained a small amount of divine power; when used, it would neither backfire on him due to the divine power nor fail to inflict heavy damage on the enemy.

Using this core technique, he had once wounded several formidable Transcendent Masters.

After the torrent of light energy had scoured through, the gray mist was completely washed away, revealing the true appearance within.

Seeing what was hidden in the gray mist, Carlos Radner's originally calm face immediately showed a strange and wary expression.

"What kind of monster is this?"

What met his eyes was a silver-gray iron-man-like creature.

Its entire body radiated an intensely powerful life force, and within that life force, the aura of its early seventh-rank Transcendent realm was clearly discernible.

"Is this... a Transcendent Master from a foreign star realm?" Carlos Radner speculated inwardly.

"You know, that move of yours actually stung a bit when it hit me," came a hoarse voice from the silver-gray iron man.

Carlos Radner's eye twitched slightly, and his inner wariness grew even more intense.

This was one of his core techniques, yet the opponent had only felt pain.

"How can this guy's defense be so terrifying? Is it because of this iron armor? That must be it; a Transcendent Master's body cannot withstand my strike without injury."

"In that case, I won't hold back either."

As the hoarse voice sounded.

"Rumble, rumble..."

The roar of engines surged forth.

At the same time, mechanical wing armor and mechanical gears rapidly unfurled behind him.

The combat form of the Mechanical Angel Armor was activated.

Danger.

As the mechanical roar sounded, Carlos Radner's heart jolted, and he quickly retreated.

At the same time, he rapidly chanted a spell.

"Boom—crash—"

The top of the castle, which had formed the flame prison and was burning, violently exploded, flames shooting into the sky.

Five or six arm-thick flame chains twisted toward Gune.

But Gune's speed was clearly much faster than those flame chains; with a leap, he easily shook them off.

Gune swung his mechanical sword.

Swish, swish, swish, swish...

A dense swarm of eighteen light blades shot out, all twisting toward Carlos Radner.

As he retreated, Carlos Radner's body twisted with light, rapidly condensing layers of light shields.

Boom, boom, boom...

The piercing light blades were all blocked by these light shields, exploding into layers of dazzling, brilliant luster.

Amidst this dazzling luster, a streak of Magic Annihilation Erosion Blade flashed by.

"Chi!"

"Ah—"

Carlos Radner's low, agonized cry rang out.

His body quickly turned into a streak of light, rapidly retreating over three hundred meters.

When he reappeared, Carlos Radner's right arm was only half left; the other half was nowhere to be seen.

At the wound, layers of strange black bubbles kept emerging and bursting, each burst spilling quite a bit of black blood.

Carlos Radner, now steady in the air, had a somewhat twisted face.

He could clearly feel that the wound not only refused to heal but, under the guidance of that black, strange power, was continuously eroding along his arm toward his main body.

Just resisting this eroding power had already cost him considerable effort; continuing to fight would likely spell doom.

"Flee!"

Immediately, Carlos Radner turned and fled.

This mysterious Mechanical Angel-like foreign powerhouse was astonishingly strong.

If he continued to fight, he would almost certainly die.

Although this was Navfort, one of the dioceses of the War Church, a place he was supposed to defend.

But now that the enemy had come, and being both seventh-rank, he was no match.

Dying in battle here was clearly not a wise choice. Even if he had to face punishment later, it was far better than dying here now.

"Trying to flee?"

"With that speed, you won't escape!"

Amidst his flight, a voice came from behind Carlos Radner that chilled his heart.

He turned back and saw the roaring Mechanical Angel rapidly closing the distance.

At the same time, three terrifying magic blades swiftly approached.

Carlos Radner immediately changed directions repeatedly in the air.

However, the magic blades seemed to lock onto him; no matter how he changed direction, they followed like a shadow and drew ever closer.

"What kind of spell is this? It's so strange, as if it's locked onto me, yet I don't feel any force locking onto me."

Seeing the magic blades rapidly approaching.

Carlos Radner leaped and once again turned into white light, darting away.

But this time, as he transformed into light and fled, the world around him suddenly seemed to turn into a quagmire, drastically slowing his light-form speed.

The three pursuing magic blades arrived in an instant, plunged into the light he had become, and began to spin rapidly.

If they were ordinary spells, such spinning and slashing would only cause damage at the blade's edge, resulting in localized cutting wounds.

But these three Magic Annihilation Erosion Blades were constructed from a powerful mid-level secret-pattern Principle tome.

As they spun, they generated an extremely strong suction force, while the slashing power spread across the surrounding area, every minute detail filled with the sharp, unmatched slashing force of the Magic Annihilation Erosion Blade.

In less than a second, that streak of light had dissipated.

Blood burst forth.

At the same time, Carlos Radner's body had turned into a pile of shredded flesh, falling from the sky. Even his hard bones were cut into fragments by the power of the Magic Annihilation Erosion Blade.

Even his soul core was ground to dust.

Carlos Radner, the Transcendent Master of mid seventh-rank, had fallen.