[Vol. 9] Chapter 70: So This Is How It Works, Now I Get It!
However, there was one exception.
The black fire that tightly wrapped around Veranica, about three meters in radius, stayed like a stubborn tumor. No matter how many flowers of light fell to erase it, it refused to disappear and continued clinging around her like it would never let go.
“Well, well~ you’re quite stubborn, huh? Can’t bear to part with her?”
Hearing Violet mutter softly, Moraya snapped out of her awe from the earlier clash of laws. She quickly turned to the black-haired girl beside her, who had already stopped casting and waved away the rain of light, keeping only her control and suppression over the remaining black fire.
“What’s going on?” Moraya asked.
Violet just shook her head slightly, offering no explanation, and then started walking straight toward the heart of the black fire. The pulsing core that looked like a giant dark heart, about two meters tall.
Seeing this, the snow girl had no choice but to swallow her worry and confusion and follow close behind.
When the two approached, the sight before them was strange. The black fire, tightly bound by golden light chains, still burned fiercely around Veranica. Yet, despite having witnessed how it could burn through anything, now that they were standing so close, neither of them could feel any heat from it.
It burned silently, arrogant and overwhelming, but giving off a cold, lifeless, and shadowy aura that seemed to infect everything it touched. It was like two opposite ideas forced into one form, giving people an uneasy feeling that they simply didn’t belong together.
After her experience beneath the Frozen Sea, Moraya had gained a basic understanding of the supreme realm of Laws. So she quickly noticed the strangeness and contradictions within this black fire, faintly realizing that—
This... could not be something naturally born in this world.
Violet carefully examined the stubborn black fire. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Moraya observing it too, curiosity and caution mixed in her gaze. A small, hard-to-notice smile curved on Violet’s lips.
That familiar playful glint returned to her silver-blue eyes as she turned to the snow girl.
“What’s with that look? You seem tempted. Want to try and see how strong it is~?”
Moraya blinked, then sighed helplessly and shook her head.
“I’m not that bored. I’m not about to risk my life for fun, okay? Please stop teasing me and just deal with it already.”
“Tch... you’re way too serious, you know that? You and Veranica are like a pair of stone-faced guardians, no sense of humor at all. Don’t you know girls who don’t smile will get old faster~...”
Even though she grumbled under her breath, Violet didn’t hesitate for a second. After a short pause to think, her gaze focused on the still-burning black flame. And then, without the slightest sign of fear, she lifted her right hand and reached straight into that dark, all-devouring fire!
“!?”
Moraya’s heart almost stopped. She had never imagined Violet would act so recklessly. Her ice-blue pupils shrank sharply as panic flashed through her mind.
She opened her mouth to shout a warning “Be careful!”, but before the words could escape, another sudden sound drowned her out.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!!”
Just as Violet’s hand was about to touch the black fire, three pairs of bright, flawless white wings suddenly burst open from her back, like blooming petals of pure light!
Countless glowing white feathers fluttered and swirled, moving as if alive. They quickly gathered and wrapped around her entire right arm, forming a thin yet perfect armor of feathers, light as a cicada’s wing, but impenetrable.
The terrifying black flame, the one that could even burn and corrode the Holy Light Flower before, touched the soft-looking white feathers, but it was like hitting an invisible wall. The dark fire twisted helplessly around the feathered arm, making hissing sounds as if trying to eat through it, yet it could no longer move forward even a little, nor harm the skin of the girl protected by the feathers.
Divine Artifact Skill — [Feathered Transformation]!
The blazing fire roared before her eyes. The dancing black flames shone on Violet’s calm and peaceful face. She didn’t show even the slightest sign of pain from being burned. Instead, she moved her hand in the flames as if she were catching a fish in water. After feeling around for a moment, she accurately grabbed the wrist of a certain ice demon girl hidden within the fire.
“Got you!”
Then, the priestess suddenly pulled outward!
“Boom!!!”
The black flames, touched at their core, reacted like boiling oil meeting a huge stone, exploding violently!
Countless black sparks and tongues of flame scattered wildly like a swarm of frightened poisonous snakes. Some of them even tried to gather together again, merging into several tighter, more focused streams of dark fire filled with malice. They screamed through the air like living creatures, rushing again toward the priestess and Veronica, who had just been pulled out!
“Huh? Still not done yet…?”
Seeing this, the priestess finally frowned. But instead of making any big movement, she simply glared and shouted a single word.
“Begone!”
At that instant, a vast, invisible wave of divine will burst forth, like a silent ocean that suddenly turned into a raging storm, or a gale from the heavens roaring down!
“Woom—!”
An unseen but overwhelming force spread out before her. The air itself twisted in waves as if it were about to collapse under the pressure.
Those streams of black fire, charging forward with a shriek, were instantly crushed, like candles in the wind. They didn’t even have time to struggle before being snuffed out by invisible hands. With a few faint pops, they shattered and vanished completely.
Only a few tiny, almost invisible black sparks remained, flickering weakly like dying fireflies. After trembling for a few moments, they too faded away slowly into the cold air, carrying a feeling of endless unwillingness.
A disaster that could have spread across the entire Icefang Peninsula, turning it into a sea of burning ruins, had been crushed in its cradle. In the simplest and most brutal way possible.
“Th-this…”
The snow girl, who had been watching the whole scene from beginning to end, was still standing there with her mouth slightly open, her eyes fixed blankly on the spot where the black flames had disappeared.
She seemed lost in that clash of powers beyond understanding, that shocking sight of a strange calamity being erased with just a few movements. It was as if a new door had opened in her mind, one she had never imagined before.
In her ice-blue eyes, there was fear, confusion, and a faint spark of realization quietly blooming, so strong she couldn’t even form a full sentence.
Violet took one glance and could immediately tell that the girl was on the verge of some kind of awakening. She didn’t interrupt. Calmly lowering her arm, the three pairs of elegant white wings behind her faded away as if they had never existed.
Then, with a cheerful smile, she tiptoed and lightly patted the shoulder of the still-dazed leader of the [Scavenger Gang], who had just been pulled out of the flames and was clearly a bit flustered and out of it.
“Well? I told you I’d protect you. Looks like I wasn’t just bragging, right?”