Lucian stared at the Frenzied Flame Sun hanging high in the sky, his expression solemn.
He had thought he was already taking the Lord of Frenzied Flame seriously enough.
Ever since the battle began, Lucian had been suppressing the Lord of Frenzied Flame continuously, refusing to give him any opportunity to unleash his full strength.
But he had never expected this guy to be even more troublesome than he had imagined.
Not only had he secretly reignited the entire valley and begun accumulating strength and summoning servants immediately after descending into the world, but just now, he had seized that brief opening and revealed all of his hidden trump cards.
After absorbing the scattered power and restoring his previously weakened body, the Lord of Frenzied Flame before them had completely returned to his peak state.
The situation on the battlefield had instantly reversed.
Thinking back to the Lord of Frenzied Flame's sudden comeback, Lucian could not help but grit his teeth.
There was naturally no way the Lord of Frenzied Flame could have known that he possessed Wind Spirit Moon Shadow. Using the Aging Untouchable to divert the target of his attack had been nothing more than a bluff.
He had simply grown too accustomed to living frugally. The optimal solution he had always relied upon had instead caused him to miss the opportunity this time.
The renewed spread of the Frenzied Flame could no longer be stopped.
Lucian simply turned his attention toward his surroundings first.
In one corner of the valley, a barrier enveloped in flowing light stood completely untouched, utterly out of place amid the surrounding devastation.
Seeing that Irina and Liliana inside had not been affected by the Frenzied Flame, Lucian finally relaxed slightly.
At this very moment, the Lord of Frenzied Flame spread his arms in midair.
The enormous Frenzied Flame Sun above his head pulsed as though it were breathing, waves of power radiating from it.
Realizing that he was preparing to spread the Frenzied Flame even farther, Lucian and the others immediately unleashed their own attacks, attempting to stop him.
Lucian raised the Sword of Night and Flame in his hands, aiming it directly at the Frenzied Flame Sun in the sky.
The glintstone crystals arranged neatly along the blade lit up one after another as magic poured into them, deep-blue magical power gathering at the tip of the sword.
Once the magic had been completely charged, a deep-blue Comet surged straight into the sky, resembling a river of stars flowing against the current.
Beside him, the Ancient Dragon Lightning hurled by Asimi and the Black Flame released by Melina followed one after another.
The Lord of Frenzied Flame refused to yield.
Dense waves of Frenzied Flame rained down from the sky like countless meteors crashing toward the ground.
Using the dusk-colored sky, already scorched by the Frenzied Flame, as their canvas, brilliant colors intertwined across it.
In the end, the Frenzied Flame overwhelmed the attacks of the three through sheer numerical superiority.
However, as the price for countering them, the Lord of Frenzied Flame's plan to spread the Frenzied Flame and absorb more power was also thwarted.
Seeing that the Frenzied Flame's large-scale expansion had been suppressed, Lucian finally stopped pouring magic into the sword.
That high-output release of the weapon skill had nearly drained his entire supply of magic.
Lucian swung the Sword of Night and Flame, and blazing flames immediately erupted from the blade.
He then flew toward the sky as well, preparing to continue his battle with the Lord of Frenzied Flame.
At this point, Lucian had already prepared himself mentally to activate Wind Spirit Moon Shadow's super damage at any moment.
Against an ultimate strike enhanced by Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, the Frenzied Flame absolutely had no means of resisting.
However, after seeing the precedent of Mohg being rescued by the Formless Mother, Lucian had also realized there was a tiny possibility that his attack could miss.
Even the Aging Untouchable could teleport within areas consumed by the Frenzied Flame.
If the Lord of Frenzied Flame possessed some similar ability, things would become troublesome.
He needed to find another opportunity.
Then he would get right in its face and blow the Frenzied Flame apart with Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.
This time, he absolutely had to erase the Lord of Frenzied Flame without leaving even a trace behind.
As Lucian flew toward the Lord of Frenzied Flame, Melina and Asimi continued launching feints.
Meanwhile, Lucian took a Flask of Cerulean Tears from the spatial disc.
But he did not drink it immediately.
With a flash of golden light in his hand, a massive amount of Runes was blessed into the flask.
Only after completing the enchantment did Lucian finally drink it in one gulp.
The enhanced Flask of Cerulean Tears was extraordinary. A single flask instantly restored his FP completely.
At this moment, the Lord of Frenzied Flame was already gripping the Greatsword of Damnation, diving rapidly from the sky to meet Lucian head-on.
In the blink of an eye, the two collided once again, the blades in their hands tearing through each other's bodies at incredible speed.
Feeling the Lord of Frenzied Flame's noticeably greater strength, Lucian's brows furrowed.
The power the Lord of Frenzied Flame had gained by igniting the valley just now had not merely replenished his previous expenditure and losses.
It had made him even stronger.
Now, when Lucian fought him with pure physical strength, he could only barely maintain the upper hand.
Seeing the wounds on Lucian's body recover almost instantly once again, the Lord of Frenzied Flame decisively erupted with the power within his core and pulled away.
The core power released by the Lord of Frenzied Flame this time caused all three of them to feel a shudder in their hearts.
Although it had yet to strike their bodies, none of them dared test its might.
After realizing that Lucian's recovery was heavily influenced by the Minor Erdtree, the Lord of Frenzied Flame casually pointed toward it.
The next moment, countless enhanced Frenzied Bursts shot from the Frenzied Flame Sun, all of them aimed directly at the Minor Erdtree within the mansion.
None of those present had the spare capacity to intercept them.
Nor did they intend to.
They could only deal with the core flames of the Frenzied Flame in front of them.
After replenishing his strength, the Lord of Frenzied Flame could wield this core power with even greater abandon.
Under the dense barrage of Frenzied Bursts, the mansion that had once contained Midra and Nanaya's happy memories was mercilessly bombarded into ruins.
Midra's Manse had completely become a thing of the past.
It was melted into ruins by the Frenzied Flame, burning fiercely amid the flames.
The Minor Erdtree within naturally did not escape either.
It was immediately engulfed in Frenzied Flame, gradually twisting before dissipating into its most primordial magical essence.
Seeing the Minor Erdtree destroyed, Melina once again released her magic and began condensing it.
Even though she knew that the moment she summoned it, the Frenzied Flame would inevitably make it a priority target once again, Melina still attempted to bring it forth.
Even if it could only serve as a wooden target and attract some of the firepower, that alone would benefit them under the current circumstances.
Unfortunately, as the Frenzied Flame continued spreading, there were fewer and fewer places left for the Minor Erdtree to take root.
—
Within the valley engulfed by the spreading Frenzied Flame, the barrier rippling with watery light had already become the final remaining patch of pure land.
Irina knelt with her hands clasped tightly, praying constantly for the others.
A battlefield this terrifying completely exceeded anything she had ever imagined.
At this moment, she was so frightened that even her legs had gone weak.
Liliana pressed herself against the protective barrier, watching the battlefield without blinking.
The strength of the Lord of Frenzied Flame had exceeded all expectations, especially after he had replenished his power.
Liliana sighed softly inwardly.
There simply had not been enough time.
If only Irina had been given a little more time to complete her initial transformation, she would have been able to participate in the battle.
With the protection of the lakelight, the influence of the Frenzied Flame could be reduced to almost nothing, while the damage caused by the Frenzied Flame would also be greatly reduced.
Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do right now.
They could not even project their power through the Frenzied Flame covering the valley.
All they could do was trust Lucian and the others.
Suddenly, through her fairy eyes, Irina noticed something appearing nearby.
She focused her gaze and discovered that it was a snake.
A red snake with wings.
Only the front half of the snake's body was visible, while its rear half disappeared into the void, proving that it was merely a phantom projection of some kind of power.
Yet even the phantom of the winged serpent seemed to be in a precarious state within the Frenzied Flame, as though it were suffering.
Seeing that it was not far from her, Irina attempted to envelop it with the lakelight.
The Frenzied Flame clinging to its body was immediately extinguished.
The winged serpent's emerald eyes also noticed this small act of kindness.
What Irina did not know was that a golden eye was watching this place from afar.
—
Far away, beneath the Scadutree, the Shadow Keep stood proudly.
This was a highland from which one could look northeast toward the Scadutree, and Messmer's forces were stationed here with the Shadow Keep as their center.
The enormous commotion from the valley was simply too great.
It had directly set the entire vast valley ablaze.
An uproar this enormous should have been noticed immediately, no matter how secluded someone was.
Within the magnificent specimen repository, Messmer was currently covering his right eye, transferring his consciousness into the phantom body created by the winged serpent.
The burning of the Frenzied Flame made both him and the winged serpent extremely uncomfortable.
Not only that, the Frenzied Flame had also caused the phantom body to approach collapse, making its vision blurry.
But in order to investigate the situation within the Frenzied Flame, he could only endure it for now.
Fortunately, even with his vision blurred, the enormous Frenzied Flame Sun hanging in the sky was still exceptionally conspicuous.
Looking at that unmistakable symbol of the Frenzied Flame, Messmer could not help but frown.
"The Lord of Frenzied Flame...?"
Messmer immediately fell into thought, his slender fingers resting against his chin as he recalled everything he knew about the past.
Before long, the information concerning the valley resurfaced in his memory.
The valley...
There was indeed something unusual about that place in his memories.
After her Mother had first reached a degree of understanding with the Hornsent, churches had begun to be constructed throughout the land, spreading the faith of the Erdtree.
Yet the church in the valley had not even been completed before it was completely sealed off from them because of some internal matter among the Hornsent.
Connecting the pieces, Messmer suddenly understood.
So it had been because of the Lord of Frenzied Flame that the entire valley had been designated a forbidden area back then?
After the Crusade, Messmer had never sent anyone there.
After all, even before the Crusade had ended, the soldiers had already begun buckling under the immense psychological pressure.
And after the end of the Crusade, once this place had been completely sealed off and turned into a place of exile, there was even less reason to explore the valley.
So the seal on the Lord of Frenzied Flame had indeed been broken now...
Thinking of this, Messmer had already made up his mind to head there and fight.
The Lord of Frenzied Flame was the incarnation of the Frenzied Flame itself, the embodiment of ultimate madness and despair.
There was no possibility of coexistence between any living being and such a creature.
Only a war in which one side lived and the other died.
Just then, Messmer felt a gentle force cover the phantom body of the winged serpent, driving away the Frenzied Flame.
As the Frenzied Flame was dispersed, the winged serpent's vision gradually became clear, finally allowing it to see the entire valley.
Turning his gaze to the side, Messmer saw Irina and Liliana within the barrier of flowing light.
'They seem to be of the Golden Order… yet that creature at her side… what manner of being might it be? A fairy, perchance?'
Before he could figure out the identities of Irina and Liliana, his attention was drawn toward the battle taking place in the sky.
'Someone hath seen fit to cross blades with the Lord of Frenzied Flame?'
'Could they themselves have been the ones to unseal that dread lord?'
—
Sword of Night and Flame and the Greatsword of Damnation collided once more before separating.
This time, however, it was Lucian who voluntarily retreated.
During the exchange just now, the Lord of Frenzied Flame had repeatedly unleashed the power of the Frenzied Flame Core, and finally managed to land a hit on Lucian.
The instant the flames touched him, Lucian's left arm was vaporized.
But if that were all, it would not have been enough to make Lucian retreat.
An injury like this meant nothing to him. Under normal circumstances, he could regrow the arm in two seconds.
What truly shocked him was that the severed arm had remained unable to regenerate for an abnormally long time.
Lucian was stunned.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with his regenerative ability.
After breaking through the limits of his Vigor, his natural recovery had already reached an inhuman level.
And now he also had the continuous healing effects of Blessing's Boon and the Minor Erdtree.
Ordinary Frenzied Flame did not possess any effect that prevented healing. The other parts of his body that had been burned by the Frenzied Flame were already recovering at incredible speed.
Only the left arm erased by the core flames showed absolutely no signs of regrowing.
Lucian deliberately slowed the burning of his Kindling, concentrating every bit of his regenerative power on his left arm.
Yet even now, there was still no response.
Asimi and Melina immediately noticed something was wrong with Lucian.
Without hesitation, Asimi swung Euporia with both hands, taking Lucian's place and blocking the Lord of Frenzied Flame, continuing to keep him occupied.
With the techniques and strength she had copied from Lucian, Asimi was able to hold her own for the moment.
Melina stared at Lucian's missing arm, which stubbornly refused to recover, her eyes widening as an uneasy feeling emerged in her heart.
At this moment, Melina wanted nothing more than to immediately go to Lucian's side and help him figure out a solution.
But if only Asimi remained on the front line, their suppression would undoubtedly weaken.
Furthermore, the Mimic Tear, whose existence was essentially spiritual, could end up in an even worse situation if it were struck by the same core flames that had injured Lucian.
Melina gritted her teeth.
In the end, she firmly judged the situation and continued resisting the Lord of Frenzied Flame alongside Asimi.
Although she was worried about Lucian, Melina believed he could solve it himself.
If even Lucian could not deal with it, there was probably little she could do either.
Euporia danced wildly in Asimi's hands, constantly drawing vitality from the Lord of Frenzied Flame through the power of Abundance.
Although it represented chaos and madness, the Frenzied Flame was likewise a concentrated manifestation of life.
But before long, Asimi stopped using the power of Abundance.
Because all of the life force she had extracted was contaminated with the madness of the Frenzied Flame.
At the end of the Abundance, bright amber flames had already begun to emerge.
The Frenzied Flame truly was the enemy of life.
Although she could use Scarlet Rot to corrupt those contaminated life forces before having Abundance absorb them, the efficiency would drop dramatically.
Asimi immediately abandoned the idea.
Now, all she could do was continuously form vortices from Euporia, protecting herself while simultaneously neutralizing the Frenzied Flame.
Melina's Dusky Eyes had already opened.
She was pushing them to their absolute limit.
As tremendous amounts of magic poured into her, the Queen's Black Flame surged across the sky, temporarily occupying even the heavens above.
—
Lucian's eyes sharpened.
Sword of Night and Flame swept down above the severed arm, completely cutting away the remaining stump.
Vigorous life force immediately surged into the wound, yet after a long while, it had only recovered to its previous state.
Seeing this abnormality, Lucian finally understood what was happening.
No matter how severe an injury was, as long as one's regenerative ability was sufficient, it could naturally be restored.
But now, it seemed that the Frenzied Flame Core possessed some kind of special power.
Back when Lucian had possessed infinite health, his body could practically be treated as though it were undergoing cellular reconstruction.
Yet healing would not suddenly produce an extra arm, because the body knew what its proper form was and would simply restore itself to that form.
And now, it was probably because his body believed that this was what he was supposed to look like.
That was why it could not regenerate the arm.
It was somewhat like the true-damage Hell Sword from that magnetic-field power system.
Even someone as insane as the Second Male Lead, when faced with a severed arm, had no way to perform cellular reconstruction.
Lucian was now facing essentially the same situation.
Lucian took a deep breath.
Instead, he became completely calm.
A mere healing restriction could be easily removed with [Remove Status Effects].
But Lucian did not do that.
Instead, he began rummaging through the spatial disk.
Very quickly, more than a dozen fragments of the Scadutree, large and small, were pulled out.
Looking at the Scadutree fragments, Lucian simply crushed them in his hand.
In the past, he had used Remove Status Effect to erase weakening effects.
But now, these Scadutree fragments directly provided enhancement instead.
As their blessings descended, Lucian's aura grew even stronger.
Exalted Flesh? No, the various stimulants and items he could use, including his various battle-enhancing consumables, were all activated by Lucian one after another.
After doing all of this, Lucian summoned another Great Rune from within his body.
The Great Rune in which he had stored the power of the sun while possessing infinite magic.
As its power was released, a blazing sun descended.
It was far larger than the Frenzied Flame Sun.
A gradually crazed expression appeared across Lucian's face.
[Wind Spirit Moon Shadow...]
[Super Damage]
[Activated]
And naturally, the target of the enhancement was the blazing sun hanging in the heavens!
'Fuck it.'
He was going to blast that ridiculous Lord of Frenzied Flame into oblivion!
Infinite Focus combined with Super Damage, on top of every buff covering his body.
The resulting power immediately spiraled upward like one foot stepping on the other.
Was it unreasonable?
Good.
He had already activated cheats.
Why the hell should he still bother playing fair with his enemy?!
In an instant, the sun began expanding at an uncontrollable speed, as though the true sun itself had descended upon this world.
The Lord of Frenzied Flame was exposed to its radiance for only an instant, yet ninety percent of his physical form was vaporized.
Abandoning the Greatsword of Damnation, the Lord of Frenzied Flame trembled as he fled into the core of the Frenzied Flame.
Yet all he could do was watch helplessly as the sun drew closer.
Under Lucian's control, the sun's power did not cause the slightest harm to his allies.
However, the Great Rune was approaching its limit.
The sun was still missing that final trace of divine essence.
It was the true core of the sun.
Something that could not be created simply by piling up enough power.
But it did not matter.
All Lucian needed now was to destroy everything related to the Frenzied Flame here.
Just as Lucian was preparing to completely annihilate the Lord of Frenzied Flame, a ray of sunlight suddenly pierced through the veil surrounding the Land of Shadow.
Gentle sunlight poured into the sun that was on the verge of destruction.
In the next instant, the sun, which originally could only destroy itself, completely stabilized.
Seeing this, Lucian could not help throwing his head back and laughing.
We're set.
We're completely set!
The true sun has descended!
Earlier, when he had gone to the Spirit World and shattered a fragment of the faded sun, the sun's power had once again gained the ability to interfere with the Lands Between.
And now, it was as though the sun had taken control of this place.
It actively treated this enormous fireball as an avatar of itself.
The sun in its completely unrestricted state was so powerful that even the laws of the Lands Between themselves began to warp and distort.
—
[T/N: Reference: Hell's Sword]
The reference here comes from the Hong Kong manhua Haihu (海虎) and its wider Haihu/Wushen (海虎/武神) universe.
If you have never read Haihu, the phrase "magnetic-field power system" may seem like a random comparison. In Haihu, however, Magnetic Field Rotation (磁场转动) is the central supernatural power system. It begins with Current Propulsion (电流推动) and eventually develops into increasingly absurd abilities, including physical enhancement, cellular reconstruction, matter manipulation, and eventually abilities that affect things far beyond the human body. The power of this system is measured in "horsepower" (匹).
One of the most recognizable techniques in this system is Hell's Sword (地狱之剑), wielded by the character Hell (地狱). Hell's Sword is a specialized killing technique rather than an ordinary physical sword, with techniques such as Eclipse (日蚀) and Moonfall (月缺). It is one of the iconic techniques associated with the series.
The other half of the reference is cellular reconstruction. In the Haihu power system, sufficiently powerful Magnetic Field users can literally manipulate and reconstruct their own cells, allowing injuries that would normally be fatal to be repaired. This is explicitly described as one of the abilities obtained through Magnetic Field Rotation.